Cheer Up
by yunakitty
Summary: Luke x Angela/Akari, Harvest Moon Tree of Tranquility. Angela's having a rough time adjusting to island farm life. Can a cheerful carpenter turn things around for her? Lime from Chapter 4 on, Lemon from Chapter 5 on.
1. Roots

Chapter 1

"This is never going to work," I muttered.

I kicked my toe in defeat at the barren soil. What had I gotten myself into? The enthusiasm I had felt just a couple of weeks ago had ebbed into disappointment. When I had read the brochure about free farmland on a beautiful island, I had jumped at the chance to start my adult life with a bang. I was 18 years old, with no family to speak of, and no real career ambitions. I had always liked the outdoors, and I was a pretty athletic girl, so farm life seemed like the thing for me.

I had learned quickly that it wasn't as simple as that. Sure, I was given free farm land and even a little cottage, which was wonderful. But the plot that was "suitable" for growing crops was quite small, and I use "suitable" very loosely. As a result of it being an island, and therefore close to the ocean, the dirt was very sandy. I had planted some spring crops, strawberries and turnips, but for the most part, the pathetic little sproutlings that I had just withered and died before they had even begun. Two strawberry plants had lived, but the strawberries they were producing were an off putting shade of yellow. Not exactly prize winners.

I couldn't keep going like this. The little bit of money I had brought with me was dwindling down to nothing. I had to eat, after all, and the yellow strawberries were not that filling. Most of my money was spent of buying a little food here and there. I had been lucky to receive a fishing pole from Toby, one of the islanders. But fishing was surprisingly exhausting and time consuming, and often the whole day would go by with only a five inch long fish to show for it. I had gone to bed hungry more than I would like to admit.

I wanted to just sit down in the dirt and cry. I was overwhelmed, and terrified of failing utterly. I wanted to take what little money I had left and run for the dock, and convince Pascal to take me back to the mainland. But then what would I do? What if I couldn't find a job there? At least here I had a roof over my head. If I went back to the mainland, I'd be homeless.

So, I refrained from wallowing in my misery. I straightened myself up, and thought hard. I was not going to waste time fishing today, and I was already done with my "farm chores", ie watering the two plants that I had. I decided that I was going to explore the island, hopefully finding something that I could forage. If it was edible, then I could ease my hunger pangs a little; and if it wasn't, I could sell it so that I could by some food, and perhaps some more crop seeds and give it another go.

I set out, determined. I decided to head north of my farm. Going to the south would lead me back to town, and I had already found that there wasn't much to see to the east. There was a cute little turtle that poked around there, but it was pretty much a dead end, and I had ascertained that there was nothing to be foraged in that area.

The dirt path forked, one path leading to the west. I was pretty sure that it would take me to Maple Lake, one of my fishing spots, but I didn't want to go there today. I took the fork heading north, and as I walked, I was nearly run down from behind. I staggered and stumbled, trying to keep my balance as I stared, open mouth, at a young blonde boy and an older man with blue hair and a mustache as they ran as fast as they could down the path. My curiosity peaked, I headed after them.

When I rounded the corner, I took in the scene there. The boy was frantically yelling "Stop!" at the top of his lungs over and over. The older man just had one face buried in his right hand, and he shook his head in defeat. The person they were apparently not happy with was a young man, wearing a bandanna over his longish blue hair. He was lean and muscular, and he held a huge axe that he was currently using to hack furiously at a gigantic tree root that was totally blocking the path. A loud crack could be heard as he finished the job, chopping through the last bit. A huge log, bigger than he was, fell to the ground, and he leaned against it, turning around to face everyone.

"That was awesome!" he cheered, pumping one fist. "That was the biggest thing I've ever chopped!" Gill, the mayor's son, was standing nearby, a smug look on his face.

"Luke, no!" the older man said. "I told you not to cut the root! It's connected to the Harvest Goddess tree! What were you thinking?"

Luke shrugged. "It's dead. And it was blocking the path. It wasn't doing anyone any good. Hey Pops, help me with this, will ya?" he asked of the older man, who sighed heavily, but moved forwards to help Luke roll the log out of the way.

Gill folded his arms over his chest, stepping forward. "You probably wouldn't know, but the Harvest Goddess tree is a very important legend on this island. If we want the island to truly prosper, we need to revive it. The root was part of the old, dead tree. It needed to be cleared away." He looked at the older man, who had finished helping move the log, and was shaking his head disapprovingly. "Relax, Dale. It'll be fine."

Dale shook his head once more. "But what if the tree needed that root to revive? We just don't know, and we should have been more cautious."

Luke, who was wiping his hands on his jeans, came forward. "Aw, Pops, relax. Like I said, it was dead and in the way. The Harvest Goddess wants us to be happy, right? So she wouldn't want this path blocked, would she?"

His father shook his head. "You don't know for sure what the Harvest Goddess wants."

Luke splayed his hands out. "Well, maybe I'm wrong. If I did the wrong thing, then the Harvest Goddess can come and spank me." He suddenly turned to me as he said that, and I felt my face get hot. Now that he was close enough to get a good look at, I realized he was absolutely gorgeous. His golden colored eyes twinkled with mischief, and I just stared at him.

"Are you the new farmer? The name's Luke," he said as he stretched one hand out to shake. I took it, shaking slightly, and squeezed it with my own.

"I'm Angela," I said. As I tried to bring my hand away again, I could feel the pull of something sticky.

"Ah, sorry about that," he apologized. "Tree sap."

"There was tree sap in the root? But, that means it was still alive!" Dale said.

Luke laughed. "Chill out, Pops. The tree sap was from the handle of my axe from earlier. That root was as dry as a bone."

Dale sighed heavily, then turned to the young boy. "Come on, Bo, let's get back to work." They made their way through the new clearing, and Gill said goodbye and headed back to town. We watched him go, and then I turned back to Luke. I felt my face flush again as our eyes met. He hoisted up his axe and rested it on his shoulder. "Well, see ya, Angela." My heart fluttered slightly when I heard him say my name. He turned to go, and I awkwardly stepped after him.

"Oh, uh...I'm going this way, too," I said.

He stopped, turning to watch me as I caught up to him. "Got business at the carpenter's?"

I gave a short, low laugh. Yeah, right, I thought. I don't have enough money to feed myself, how could I afford to have something built? "No, I'm just exploring today, and I've never been this way before."

"Okay. Well, my dad's carpentry shop is right around this corner. I'm an apprentice there. Used to be, you had to go the long way through Maple Lake and past the mines to get to us. This shortcut might just increase business for us. Maybe. I don't know. Pops shoulda been glad for that, instead of acting all mopey like he was doing." He began to whistle.

We came to a fork in the road, and Luke went to the left, heading towards a large building surrounded by planks of wood. I looked off to the right, and I could see a dense grove of trees that looked perfect for foraging. I reluctantly bid Luke farewell, and headed that way.

As I walked alone, I thought deeply. I couldn't believe how smitten I was by Luke. He was devastatingly attractive, but his cheerful, friendly demeanor made him approachable. This was in sharp contrast to Gill, who although was admittedly quite handsome, his snooty attitude squelched any attraction I could have ever felt towards him.

As I got closer to the grove, my heart leapt when I saw an assortment of herbs and berries growing there. I rushed around, gathering them up. I could sell the herbs; I knew that Doctor Jin could use them. The berries looked edible, and my hunger overrode my fear of poisoning and I ate some. I put away everything I collected in my rucksack, and ventured further in.

I heard a skittering noise somewhere nearby, and I froze. Was there a wild animal in here? As much as I liked the outdoors, I was terrified of creepy creatures. I just prayed that it wasn't a snake. Anything but a snake. The noise eventually ceased, and I refocused on gathering berries and herbs. I leaned down into a thick patch of grass to pull up some blue herbs there, and I was met with two beady eyes.

I screamed, flailing out my arms and tumbling backwards. The snake just hissed threateningly at me, and I crawled backwards on my hands and knees trying to get away. I finally managed to stand up, and I fled out of the grove, my heart pounding out of my chest. I turned to look behind me, as if the snake would have even chased me, and as I did so, I barreled straight into somebody.

My body recoiled from the impact, and I was momentarily stunned. Strong hands gripped me by my shoulders, and I panted heavily, still very frightened. I heard a newly familiar voice saying my name, and I looked up. I had run into Luke. His mischevious golden eyes twinkled at me. "You okay, Angela?"

I gasped for breath, and I pointed back at the grove. "I saw a big snake! Huge!"

Luke just chuckled. "Oh, that's probably just Charlie. He's cool. He's not poisonous."

"Oh." I felt a little embarrassed for reacting like I did.

Luke shook me slightly by the shoulders. "But yeah, he is kind of scary looking if you don't know any better. And now you know!" I nodded dumbly, starting to blush at the fact that we were still so close together, and his hands were still holding my shoulders. I could smell him; a lovely combination of the earthy smell of pine and the clean smell of soap. My face was completely red when he finally let go of me.

"You sure you're all right, Angela? Your face is all red," he asked me, and I nodded my head. Obviously, he was unaware that he was gorgeous and what effect it had on the opposite sex. I mumbled some excuse and hurried off home to ship what I had found.

When I awoke the next morning, I was happy to find some money in the shipping bin. It would be enough to feed me for a couple of days, plus enough for a bag of seeds. Things were already starting to get better...


	2. Hungry

Chapter 2

That day, I decided to return to the grove where I had foraged so much stuff the day before. I hadn't actually gotten the chance to pick the place clean, because I ran scared of "Charlie" the snake. Also, I rather hoped to run into Luke again. He seemed to like to hang around there.

When I got there, I sighed with disappointment that Luke wasn't there after all. Oh well, it couldn't be helped, I told myself. I set to gathering things.

I exited the grove about half an hour later, and to my delight, Luke was there, chopping away at a stump. I cleared my throat as I approached, and he paused in his work long enough to turn around to me. "Hey, Angela!" he cried cheerfully.

"Hi, Luke," I said in a much smaller voice. I had to admit, his cheerfulness was contagious. I already felt like I was in a much better mood.

"I was hoping I'd see you today!" he said, and I felt my heart skip a beat.

"O-oh, r-r-really?" I stammered.

"Yeah. I brought something for you." I felt my heart fluttering as I awaited whatever it was. I was slightly disappointed when I was presented with a rather sad, rusty looking axe. "It's my old axe. You oughta chop a little wood whenever you have free time. Just a couple pieces a day. It'll help you get stronger, and by the time you decide to build a coop or a barn, you'll have enough lumber already."

I accepted the axe, feeling grateful. But I knew deep in my heart that I was a long way off from being able to build any new buildings. Luke must have seen the doubt in my eyes, because he piped up cheerfully. "Don't let it get you down! It's pretty hard at first, but you'll get used to it. Chopping wood, that is."

I nodded, and then he was called back to work by Bo. "See ya later, Angela." He waved, then gave me a thumbs up as he turned and ran down the path. I followed at a slower pace. I headed home, dumped off the stuff I had foraged in the shipping bin, then fetched my fishing pole. I went to the riverbank, and settled in for a day of fishing.

As usual, it was pretty fruitless, and I headed home with only enough to feed myself dinner. I cleaned the small fish and then cooked it in my battered old frying pan. I still felt hungry, though, and I went outside to my shipping bin, retrieving some berries from it and eating them as dessert.

The next day, I went to the seed shop. I purposefully took the path north so that I could pass the carpenter's. Luke was outside, sawing away industriously at some logs. I just waved as I passed, and he waved back.

I reached the seed shop and pondered my purchase. I decided to go with potatoes, since Craig advised that they grew well in poor soil. I went ahead and spent all of my money on potato seeds, then returned home to plant and water them. I figured I could do a little foraging afterwards to make up the money.

I was wrong, however. I had forgotten that weeds had grown quickly over my field, and I had to tug and cut those out before I could even start with hoeing, which was extremely draining. Planting the seeds wasn't too hard, but watering was the final straw. I had to practically drag myself into the house as the sun was setting. I was very hungry, but there was no food in the house, and I was too tired to even think about trying to go and find any. I might have been able to make it to the Sundae Inn, but even if I did...I had no money to buy anything. I just had 13G to my name. Rather pathetic.

My stomach grumbled all night, and I slept fitfully. I woke up, feeling almost as tired as when I went to bed. I couldn't even think about watering the potatoes; I had to eat something first. I went out and peeked in the shipping bin, and of course there was no money awaiting me. I hadn't put anything in it the day before. I briefly considered going fishing, but I knew it would take a long time, and I needed to eat something, anything, NOW.

I headed for the grove to do some foraging. Luke wasn't there, and neither was anything to forage. Absolutely nothing. I couldn't believe it. I would have killed for some of those berries. Exhausted, famished, and feeling like I was about to cry, I trudged back south. I walked past my farm, heading for town. I seemed to remember that clams could sometimes be found on the beach there. My mouth watered as I thought of eating grilled clams.

About an hour later, I was even closer to tears. All I had found along the entire length of coastline was three crummy seashells. With a heavy heart, I turned for home. I felt weak near the Sundae Inn, so I stopped for a moment, sitting on the bench and taking deep breaths. I leaned my head down, resting my face in my hands. What was I going to do?

"Yo, Angela!" I looked up suddenly as I heard Luke's voice. He was trotting down the path towards me, as cheerful as ever. "You going in there for lunch? Come on, we can sit together." He got closer and closer to the door, and I looked down, picking at my hands. This was rather embarrassing.

"No, I'm not having lunch..." I faded away as the word alone made my body pang with hunger, and my stomach growled loudly just then.

"You sound pretty hungry," he said. "Come on, let's go in."

I fought back tears as I stood up. "I can't."

Luke looked puzzled. "You can't? Why not?"

I couldn't hold back anymore, and as I averted my eyes with embarrassment, they welled up with tears. "I don't have any money," I said softly.

A look of pity crossed his face, and he quickly waved it away. "Ah, that doesn't matter. The owner owes me a favor because I fixed some shingles on his roof free of charge yesterday. So it won't cost anything anyway." I bit my lip, hesitating, and he stepped forward suddenly, grasping me by the hand and jerking my back towards the inn. "Come on, silly." My heart fluttered at the feeling of his slightly rough hand pressing against mine, and I murmured in gratitude as we went in.

We sat at a small table together. He just looked at me in silence for a moment, as if he was thinking deeply. The moment of seriousness passed quickly, and he launched into a tale about some trouble he had gotten into as a kid at this inn. He tried to tie their cat up to his wagon so it could pull him around, and its yowling attracted the attention of everyone rather rapidly. Apparently, he was a rather mischievious child. I just smiled as I listened to him, watching his handsome face light up with animation as he told the story. I almost forgot about how hungry I was, until they brought the food out a few moments later.

I had to hold back from eating like a wild animal. I wanted to stuff my face as fast as I could, but I managed to refrain, eating in as civilized a fashion as I could. Still, I was able to put away a pretty respectable amount of food. Luke looked at me in amazement. "You can really eat a lot for a girl." I blushed with embarrassment, looking down. He piped up again. "No, I mean that in a good way. It's kind of...cool. Most girls are all like 'Oh, I don't eat this and I don't eat that' and they nibble at their food like it's going to bite them back. But you, you're different." I just shrugged and smiled.

"Okay!" he pounded the table suddenly, and I looked up in surprise. "You and me are gonna be good friends!" he pronounced, and I had to bite my lip to keep from giggling at his boyish enthusiasm. "So then, dessert?" he asked, and I bowed my head in assent. "That's what I'm talking about!" he cheered, and he ordered us two ice cream sundaes.

"All right, wanna race?" he asked me as the dishes were placed in front of us. I cocked my head at him slightly, and he flashed his eyes mischievously at me, twirling his spoon in his fingers. "Let's see who can eat it the fastest."

I laughed, but agreed. "You're on!"

He stuck his spoon in the ice cream, and then cried out, "Go!" We shoveled ice cream in our mouths as fast as we could. I couldn't help but giggle when I saw the determined look on his face, and I almost choked. I put down my spoon and took a long drink of water, and he clattered his spoon in his empty dish. "Ha ha! I win! I beat you!" he crowed proudly, then he groaned and grabbed his head. "Brain freeze...agh..."

"Rub your tongue against the roof of your mouth," I told him, and he looked at me like I was crazy. I laughed. "No, seriously. Brain freeze is just pain in your sinuses from the roof of your mouth getting too cold. Rubbing your tongue there makes it warm up again." He complied, and within a minute he was smiling.

"Yeah, you're right! It worked!" I nodded, and he widened his eyes at me. "You're smart, Angela."

I grimaced. "No, not really. It's just a random piece of knowledge."

He rested his chin on his fist. "So, how old are you?" he asked me.

"I'm 18," I responded. "What about you?"

"19," he replied. "Where's your family at?"

I looked down at the tablecloth. "I haven't got any."

He made a small noise of surprise. "None at all?"

I looked up, shaking my head. "Nope. I was an only child, and both of my parents died seven years ago."

Luke gave a long exhale. "Whoa, that's rough. My mom died when I was little, so it's just me and Pops, but that's way worse. I'm sorry, Angela."

I waved it away with one hand. "It's okay. I'm used to it now." He graciously changed the subject, telling me about the project he and his father were working on then. Apparently, the blacksmith was having an addition made to his shop. We got up from the table and left, first thanking the owner, and then we walked up the path towards Caramel River, where I lived. We kept talking as we walked, and before I knew it, we were at my cottage.

"Heh...home sweet home," I said softly, a little embarrassed. The field was so sickeningly light colored from the sandy soil, and my two little strawberry plants looked rather sad. Luke didn't say anything, just looked out over the field. His face looked rather serious, but it quickly flitted away, and he turned and smiled at me.

"So, see ya later, Angela! I gotta get back to work." I thanked him for lunch again, and we waved goodbye to each other. I watched him walk down the path for a while, then fetched my watering can. Now full of energy, I watered my potato seeds and my two strawberry plants. I then retrieved my fishing pole and bucket and headed for the river. I was determined to catch something this time.

Not thirty seconds after I had cast out, I felt a sharp tug at my line. I reeled and pulled furiously. It was a ten minute struggle between me and whatever was on the other end of the line. Finally, I pulled it to the surface. My eyes bugged out at the size of the fish. It was two feet long! I threw it in the bucket and hauled it over to On the Hook, the local fishing shop.

The owner was mightily impressed by my catch. Apparently, it was a huchen, a rather rare and valuable fish. He offered me 1000G for it, and I accepted without hesitation. This would be enough money to feed me for quite a while! I'd be able to last until the potatoes grew, which they hopefully would.

Feeling infinitely more cheerful than I had started the day feeling, I returned home and put up the fishing pole and bucket, instead getting out Luke's axe. He had turned things around for me today, so it felt right to give it a try. As I chopped at a small stump in my field, the image of his happy, gorgeous face rose up in my mind, and I smiled. I couldn't wait to see him again.


	3. Growing

Chapter 3

The following day, I watered my potatoes, which to my delight were sprouting up in a couple of places. I splashed a little water as well on my sad looking strawberry plants, and then I geared up to go fishing.

I had a pretty successful go at it. I caught four masu trout and one rainbow trout. When the sun was high in the sky, I realized it was lunchtime, and I lugged the bucket and my pole home. My heart leapt when I saw Luke walking up the path towards me, grinning cheerfully.

"There you are!" he said. "You weren't at your house, so I thought I'd look around the area." We reached each other and he turned, walking back towards my house with me. "Catch anything?" he asked. I tilted the bucket at him, showing him the five fish inside. "Hey, that's pretty awesome," he said, impressed.

"I finally started to get good at fishing," I admitted. "For the longest time, all I could catch was empty cans, it seemed like." That made him roar with laughter, and we then reached my farm. "So what were you looking for me for?" I asked as nonchalantly as I could, when in reality I was dying to know why he had been searching me out.

"You wanna come to lunch with me again?" I hesitated, and he grinned, punching me in the arm lightly. "Come on, somebody's gotta watch and make sure you eat. If you get any scrawnier, you'll turn invisible!"

"Well...I was going to eat some of this fish for lunch. Do you...do you like fish?" I asked apprehensively. He nodded yes, and I smiled. "Well, then how about you eat here with me? It's not as good as the inn, but I'm a decent cook." He agreed, and we went inside together.

I blushed when I realized it was the first time that I had a guy in my house. Well, the mayor had been in there, but it didn't really seem like he counted as a guy. Luke looked around the sparsely furnished place. "You know, I built this place. Well, I mean, I helped build it."

"No, I didn't realize...I guess I should have known. Who else would have built it? Not the Mayor and Gill." That made us both laugh, and I set to work cleaning two of the trout. I grilled them up in the pan, and then served him one.

"Got any mayonnaise?" he asked, looking around. I blushed, feeling embarrassed.

"No, I don't even have a fridge. I do have salt and pepper," I offered, and he laughed.

"Sorry, I'm just kind of obsessed with mayonnaise. Pops says it's gross to put it on everything, but it makes stuff taste so good!" I laughed at that, and then we ate in silence. He spoke up a few minutes later. "Hey, Angela, you ever thought about having a chicken coop?"

I tilted my head at him, considering it. "No, I honestly never have. That's kind of way down the road from where I'm at right now."

Luke grinned. "Well, Pops says that I need to do a project on my own as part of my apprenticeship, and I thought maybe I could build you a coop."

I stammered, looking down at my plate. "Well, I can't afford one right now, so..." Luke waved my doubts away with his hand.

"No, I mean for free. After all, it'll be my first solo project, so the whole thing might fall down, ya know? I couldn't charge somebody for work like that."

"Oh...but, you don't have to do something like that for me."

Luke just grinned wider. "But you're my friend. I want to." I just nodded in acquiescence, and cleaned up our empty plates. "That was pretty good," he said. "Even without mayonnaise." I smiled, and then his face lit up. "Hey, and then if you have a chicken coop, maybe you'll get a mayonnaise maker to go in it, and I'll have my own personal supply of mayonnaise!" His eyes were dreamy as he thought about it, and I marveled at how much someone could like mayonnaise. He snapped to, and stood up. "Well, better get back to work before Pops freaks out. I'll start on the chicken coop tomorrow or the day after." I nodded and thanked him again, and he left.

The next day, sure enough, he was there at 6 am, dragging along a wagon full of boards. He set right to work, and my heart swelled with happiness at this gesture of kindness. A free chicken coop - it was more than I could have asked for. I passed the time while he worked by foraging and fishing. I was doing a little better in both departments, and I hadn't gone hungry at all since that day when Luke took me to lunch.

Finally, the coop was done. We marveled over it. Despite Luke's doubts, the coop didn't fall down - rather, it was pretty impressive. The owner of Brownie Ranch, Cain, heard about my coop and brought me a little chick one morning to get me started. I thanked him over and over, and he showed me how to ring the bell so that barn doors would open, and the chick would run outside to feed. He cautioned me that if it rained, I needed to keep animals inside, and he left me with about a week's worth of food for using in the case of bad weather.

My potatoes, true to Craig's word, had thrived in the poor soil. I made a nice little pile of money from selling about half of them, and I saved the rest for eating. They kept well, and it was reassuring to finally have some food in the house. There wasn't but just over a week left in the season, but I calculated it out, and I knew that I could grow another batch of potatoes. I hurried over to Craig's and bought more seeds, and planted and watered them as soon as I got home.

That Sunday was a kind of flea market in the town square. Luke and I met up outside of it at 11am, and we went in together. "I wanted to sell furniture at this market thing, but Pops said no," Luke pined as we looked over the wares. "I think it would have been fun!" I laughed, and then my eyes lit up when I saw fertilizer on display. It wasn't cheap, but it was just what I needed to revitalize my soil. They didn't sell it at the seed shop, so this would be my only chance to get any. I bought what I could afford, and Luke helped me lug it home.

"Gee, now, you're my kind of girl," Luke said, and I blushed heavily, even thought he meant it innocently enough. "All that jewelry and frou frou furniture, and you buy bags of fertilizer. That's a real farmer." I smiled, and we set the bags inside. I decided to wait until the beginning of summer to spread them, because spring was almost over anyway. It wouldn't do the crops that were growing now any good, most likely.

A few days later, my chicken was full grown, and she laid her first egg. I was absolutely delighted. I only got a few coins for selling it, the promise of a new way to earn money and a new food source was encouraging. I couldn't yet afford a mayonnaise maker like Luke wanted, and since eggs didn't sell for that much, I decided that I would keep them for eating, at least for now.

On the last day of Spring, my second crop of potatoes were finally ready. I tugged them all out of the ground, selling the best ones and saving the less impressive ones for my own eating. I also happily threshed down my two sad strawberry plants. I was sick of looking at them, and even more sick of eating yellow strawberries.

Summer was finally here, and on the first day I was busy with weeding, hoeing, fertilizing, planting, and watering. I had saved my money for the start of the season, and I had bought a bag of every kind of seeds that they had. I would be growing watermelon, honeydew, corn, tomatoes, onions, and even some flowers. As I finished up with everything, the sun started to set. Every muscle in my body screamed out in pain, and I remembered seeing a hot springs up in the mountains. I fetched my bathing suit and a towel and made my way up the long path, panting for breath by the time I reached the summit. I stepped behind the battered old bamboo changing screen and got into my bathing suit, then slipped into the hot water. It felt so heavenly, that I just closed my eyes, letting myself slip deeper into the water.

I cracked one eye open some time later when I heard the sound of someone whistling. I was pleased to see Luke's head bobbing up the path. His face lit up when he saw me. "Angela! So you discovered my secret spot!"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sore from planting all the summer crops," I admitted.

"I've been chopping wood all day. Nothing cures muscle pain like a soak in these springs," he said as he moved behind the screen and began undressing. My face started to heat up, and not just from the steaming water. I watched as he draped his jeans over the edge of the screen, then his shirt, and my heart jumped up in my throat when he laid his boxers on top of that! He suddenly appeared from behind the screen, with just a narrow width of towel covering his lower body. I tried not to stare as he eased himself down in the water. His body was truly magnificent; lean and muscular. His chest and abdomen were perfectly sculpted, and his shoulders and arms rippled with the results of all his wood chopping.

But one thought overrode everything else in my mind, and I couldn't stop myself from blurting out, "Luke, are you naked?" My face burned red as soon as I said it, and he frowned.

"No..." he said, reaching under the water. To my surprise, he pulled the wet towel out and laid it aside. "Now I am!" he grinned cheekily, and I squeaked. He laughed heartily at my discomfort. "Oh come on, Angela, only tourists wear a bathing suit in the hot springs. Us island natives always get in naked."

I stared straight down in the water, my face burning in embarrassment. I was so overwhelmed that I felt dizzy. "Oh, I didn't know that."

"Besides, you and me are friends. No big deal, right?"

I looked up at him. "I-it is a b-b-big deal! You're still a boy and I'm still a girl!"

He arched one eyebrow at me. "Oh, is that it?" He placed his hands behind him on the rocks, and started to lift himself slightly out of the water. "You wanna see...?" His eyes twinkled mischievously, and my breath hitched in my throat as I stared at his abdomen as it slowly rose out of the water. By the Harvest Goddess, it was absolutely perfect. I felt frozen to the spot as he rose higher and higher, and when I saw his narrow hips emerge from the water, my brain about shut down. A dirty part of my mind that I didn't even know was there was making me fix my eyes straight ahead, in breathless anticipation of what was about to appear.

But the sensible part of me won the day, and I clapped my wet hands over my face. "Luke, stop!" I squealed.

He roared with laughter, and I heard a splash of water that signified he had sat back down. "Aw, man, Angela, you shoulda seen the look on your face. It was priceless!"

I uncovered my face, and pouted at him. "You're mean, teasing me like that."

He laughed again. "Come on, we're friends. I was just kidding around. I know you didn't want to see me naked." My face flushed again when I admitted to myself that, yes, I did want to see him naked. I wanted it rather badly.

That evening, I lay in bed and pondered this fact. Luke liked me a lot, but just as a friend. While I was happy that he liked spending time with me and he felt comfortable enough around me to joke around like he did today, the thought of which made my whole body flush; I liked him more than that. I wanted him to do something like he had done, but really mean it.

I sighed, tossing in the bed. But I could never tell him how I felt. He obviously didn't feel the same way, and I didn't want to lose him as a friend. I would have to content myself with what we had. But, Goddess, if he did anything like that again, there was no telling what I'd do next time.


	4. Warmth

Chapter 4

A week later, it was Luke's birthday. I knew because he had been crowing proudly about it for the last few days. So, I decided to surprise him by scraping all my money together and finally getting that mayonnaise maker. When he saw it, I thought he would burst into tears, he was so overcome with joy. He turned on me, hugging me suddenly. I was surprised, but I relaxed into the embrace.

He released me, turning back to the maker. "Angela...this is SO AWESOME."

I just laughed. "You like mayonnaise WAY too much." We tested it out by putting an egg in it, and sure enough, it made mayonnaise. We went into my house, and I cooked some grilled fish with onions, which I had just harvested this morning. Of course, Luke poured mayonnaise all over his food.

"Luke, are you sure it's okay for your health to eat that much mayonnaise?" I asked apprehensively.

He shrugged. "I dunno...well, I do so much work, so I probably won't get fat, right?" The image of his father Dale, who resembled him, only old and pudgy, popped up in my head, and I winced.

"Just in case, don't go too overboard even though you've got all you can eat mayonnaise, okay?" I said, and he just grinned.

"Yeah, I don't want to get all fat like Pops," he agreed, and I laughed, realizing we were thinking the exact same thing.

The days of summer passed like a warm breeze, and Luke and I became even closer friends. It seemed like we did everything together. We'd always meet for lunch, whether it was at the Sundae Inn, or at my house. It was a Saturday, his day off from work, and we relaxed in the shade of Ben's Tree by Maple Lake. He was chewing of a blade of grass, and he turned to me.

"Hey, the firefly festival is next week, on Tuesday. You wanna go?"

I turned my head away a little so that he couldn't see me blush. "With you?"

He snorted. "No, with the Mayor. Yeah, with me!" I nodded, then admitted I had no idea what the festival was about. "Oh, well, you see, everybody gathers together at Caramel Falls after sunset, and they watch all the fireflies come out. It's kinda cool...but I have a hard time being quiet like you're supposed to, and everyone usually gets mad at me."

This didn't surprise me. "Well, are you going to be quiet this time?"

Luke nodded. "Well, yeah." He straightened up. "I'm not a teenager any more. I have to start acting like an adult." He tried to look serious, and I couldn't help but burst out in laughter. "What? What's so funny? I can act like an adult." I just laughed harder, and he growled. "Oh, that's it, you're gonna get it!" he said as he lunged for me, pinning me underneath him as he tickled me mercilessly.

I gasped for air. "No! Eek! Luke...ha ha ha!" He found all my weak spots quickly, and I struggled to block his hands. We rolled around in the grass, our bodies pressing together, and I had to admit that I liked the feeling.

Suddenly, his hand clamped down on my breast. Startled, I squeaked loudly. He just reacted by freezing completely. He looked absolutely mortified, but his hand stayed stuck in place. I looked down at it, then up at him, back down at his hand, back up to him, trying to get him to notice. He finally let go as he stood up quickly. I sat up, and since my face was at waist level with him, I couldn't help but notice...that he was aroused.

His face was flushed with embarrassment, and he stuttered for something to say. "I, uh, I gotta get back to work!" He suddenly ran off, and I felt like yelling after him, "But it's Saturday!" My voice caught in my throat, and I just watched him go. What had just happened?

He avoided me for the rest of the day, not coming out of the carpenter's shop. I started to feel a little annoyed, like he was acting like I did something wrong. The next day, it was raining heavily. Since it didn't seem like he would hang out with me, I got out the hammer that Owen, the blacksmith's apprentice, had given me, threw a bag lunch in my rucksack, and headed out for the mine. I figured I could give mining a try.

I was quite successful inside, unearthing several promising chunks of ore as well as a few things that looked like uncut gems. Exhausted, but proud, I headed back to the entrance of the mines. The storm raged, and I instantly regretted coming out to the mine on such a day. I peered outside, only to be met with absolute blackness, which was only lit temporarily by flashes of lightning, which were none too encouraging.

I couldn't stay here all night, nor could I bring myself to step out in the storm. I sank to my knees at the mine entrance, gazing out into the darkness. I wrapped my arms around myself, feeling very small and frightened at that moment. I brought my hands up to my face and buried them there.

"Angela?" I heard someone call my name, and I looked up suddenly. There was Luke, dripping with water, standing in front of me.

"Oh…Luke…" I gasped, then I began bawling.

"Hey, hey now," he said, smiling gently. "Don't be scared. It's all right. I'll get you home." He reached out a hand, and I took it. He pulled me up to my feet, and I smiled at him with gratefulness.

"How did you know I was here?" I asked, shivering a little.

"Well, I've been calling your house, but you didn't answer, and I was kinda surprised, since it was so nasty outside. Owen called me to tell me my axe upgrade was ready, and he mentioned that he saw you go into the mines, but you hadn't come out yet. I got worried."

"Oh," I said, and shivered again.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Luke urged, and he pulled me by the hand out into the storm. We ran down the path to his house, and then tumbled inside, dripping with rain.

Bo looked at us and started laughing. "You two look like a couple of wet cats! Har har!"

"Well, you smell like a wet dog," Luke retorted, taking off his bandanna and wringing it out. Bo opened and closed his mouth like a fish, and turned around to his room, slamming the door behind him. We took off our shoes and went into Luke's room. I shivered hard, and Luke started peeling off his wet shirt. I widened my eyes, stuttering to say something.

"We'd better get out of those wet clothes," Luke explained, and I blushed deeply.

"Like, in front of each other?" I murmured, playing with the hem of my sopping wet shirt.

"Oh yeah...I guess not," Luke said, and he turned to his dresser, pulling out a clean T-shirt and boxers. He laid them on his bed. "Here, you can put these on. I'll go in the bathroom and change, okay?" I nodded, and he went in as promised.

I changed as quickly as I could, afraid that he or Bo would walk in while I was naked. I pulled on the T-shirt first, since it covered everything, then put the boxers on. They were too big for me, and they rested low on my hips. There was a soft knocking at the door, and I said "Come in," with my voice shaking.

Luke came in, wearing dry clothes. His hair was still dampened down, and he threw me a towel. "For your hair," he explained. I toweled my head off, and then finger combed it back the best I could. "Come on, dinner's ready."

I ate dinner with the whole carpenter crew, feeling deeply embarrassed that I was wearing Luke's clothes. Dale cleared his throat. "The weather forecast said the storm isn't going to let up until tomorrow morning."

Luke looked at me. "Then Angela can just stay here."

Dale frowned at him. "Of course we wouldn't ask her to walk home in this weather, but have you thought about where she's going to sleep?"

Luke shrugged. "With me, of course." Bo, Dale, and I all choked on our food at the same time. "What? Oh come on, she's just my friend. It's not a big deal."

Dale responded. "I don't really think that's...such a good idea, Luke."

Bo piped up, twirling his fork in his fingers. "She can sleep in my room," he said in a creepy voice. The kid was only 12 or 13, but the way he had been looking at me since I sat down was making me feel very uncomfortable.

Dale sighed. "No, she's not sleeping with either of you. You boys can sleep in Bo's room, and Angela can sleep in Luke's room."

Luke cried out in indignation. "I am NOT sleeping in Bo's room. It smells like dirty feet! Ugh! No way!"

Dale put down his fork. "It's no use arguing. That's the only sensible solution." Luke grumbled a bit more about it, but Dale was firm on his decision. Later that night, we said goodnight to each other.

I smiled apologetically. "Sorry I'm putting you out of your own room," I said.

"Naw, it's not your fault. I still don't see why we can't both sleep in here...my bed's big enough for both of us. It's not like I'm going to try to..." he broke off, his face getting red. My face got red too, and I suspected we were both thinking about what happened yesterday under Ben's Tree. "Well, goodnight," he said quickly, and slipped into Bo's room.

I went back in Luke's room, getting under the covers. So this was Luke's bed...I pressed my face into the pillow. It smelled just like him; like freshly chopped wood. I sighed, snuggling down under the blankets. I had kind of hoped that we would be able to sleep in the same bed...not that I was going to try anything weird...I just wanted to see what it felt like to have him next to me. I thought about it as I drifted off. I bet he felt warm...and strong...and nice...

Warm...and nice... were exactly what I was thinking when I woke up a little later. It was still pitch black outside, and I was groggy, but something was different. My hands moved tentatively in front of me. I realized someone was in bed with me, and I started to scream. A hand pressed down over my mouth. "Shhh, Angela! You'll wake up my dad!" Luke whispered at me. I nodded, and he removed his hand.

"What...what are you doing here?" I asked, my face burning.

"I CANNOT sleep in Bo's room. It's nasty in there. My dad will be pissed if he finds out, but oh well. I'm used to getting in trouble." I could just see him smiling in the dim light of the room, and I smiled back.

The bed was a double, so there was room for both of us, but I couldn't resist staying close to him. I still felt like I had a slight chill from being out in the rain, and his skin felt hot...and nice...and sexy. Oh boy, maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all, I thought, as I felt my heart pounding.

"You look pretty good in my clothes," Luke chuckled. "Mmm...you're all soft and warm too." To my surprise, he pulled me in closer to him. "See? My dad was wrong. It's no big deal for us to be in a bed together. We're not doing anything wrong."

Not yet, my mind screamed. I could feel him pressed up against me, and my whole body flushed and tingled. I started to breathe heavily. Luke pulled away slightly, peering down at me in the darkness. "You okay, Angela? You're breathing all funny."

"N-no..." I tried to explain. "I'm fine...it's just..."

"Just what?" Luke asked innocently.

"Oh, Luke...I...I..." I couldn't think of what I wanted to say, so I just told him without words by quickly leaning in and pressing my lips to his. He made a small noise of surprise, but didn't pull away.

After a moment, I leaned back. He reached up and felt his lips, like he was unsure of what had just happened. "Whoa...Angela...what was that all about?"

I suddenly felt awkward and embarrassed. "I don't know...I don't know what came over me. I'm sorry."

Luke kept staring at me. "You wanna be friends like that? Friends that kiss and stuff?"

My face burned. I stammered for a little bit, then finally responded, "Yes," in a hushed tone. I was dying inside, wondering how he would react. I couldn't have ever expected what would come next.

"AWESOME!" he breathed out. I was absolutely stunned as he pressed his lips against mine once again. He kissed me again and again, almost urgently. "This is...so cool," he panted out between kisses. Our breathing became labored, and I sighed with pleasure as he parted his lips and thrust his tongue in my mouth. He twirled it around mine, and I felt like I would melt into the bed. The kisses became even more heated, and he broke away from my mouth to plant moist kisses up and down my neck.

His lips reached my ear, and he whispered there, making me tremble. "Angela...are we gonna be the kind of friends that touch each other, too?"

I thought I could scream, I was so elated. "Yes, oh yes," I murmured back.

"Sweet," he breathed, and then his hand moved from the outside of my arm inwards. He grazed his fingertips against one breast. The nipple there was already hardened, and he rubbed at it lightly through the shirt, making me moan softly. He then took his whole hand and covered my breast, kneading the flesh lightly. After a moment, he brought his hand lower, slipping it up underneath the shirt and touching my skin directly. "Oh damn, this is so awesome," he murmured, and I just gave a low moan of pleasure. His hand moved to my other breast, exploring it as well.

By this time, because of the fact that the front of our bodies were pressed quite closely together, I was very aware that he had become extremely aroused. His manhood was pressing into my thigh, hot and hard, and I could almost feel it throbbing against me. I couldn't resist reaching down and slipping my hand in between it and my thigh.

Once my hand made contact, Luke groaned. "Whoa...oh yeah..." he said breathlessly, as I began to explore him with my hand. It felt so nice and thick, I couldn't help but squeeze it a little bit. "Damn, Angela..." was all he could say as I began stroking him through the fabric. He brought his own hand swiftly between my legs, and I had to bite my lip to keep from crying out in pleasure. He rubbed his fingers furiously at me through the fabric. I shuddered, pressing my face into his chest and moaning into it.

I managed to keep focused on stroking him, but I was perilously close to orgasm. I was so incredibly turned on that it was easy, and I held my breath as I built up to the peak. Once I felt myself go, I gripped him even more strongly, moaning his name over and over as I climaxed. I trembled, savoring every little second of the sensation. Making things even more wonderful was his own strangled cry as he released. We kept touching each other lightly, and I began to feel hot moisture seeping through the top of his boxers. He gave a little embarrassed laugh and got out of the bed momentarily to change them.

Luke slipped back into the bed moments later, and pulled me in close. "That was so freaking awesome," he breathed, and then fell immediately asleep. I just smiled, adjusting myself a little in his arms, and fell asleep as well.


	5. More

Chapter 5

When I woke up, Luke was already gone. I guessed that he must have had to go somewhere with the rest of the carpenter crew, because the house was abandoned. This was confirmed by a note I found on Luke's dresser. I smiled at his ever horrible handwriting and bad spelling. From what I could read of it, they were working on something at Town Hall today, and he couldn't WAIT to see me again. (he spelled it WATE, however, which amused me.) My clothes had finally dried, so I took off the borrowed garments and changed back into my own stuff. The rain had let up outside, and I put on my shoes and left. I went home and cleaned up, happily changing into some new clothes.

I was foraging in the grove later when Luke took me by surprise. I let out a little squeal as he grabbed me from behind, giving me a bear hug as he nuzzled at my neck. "Damn, I missed you so bad today." He spun me around, then pushed me backwards deeper in the wood. "I've been thinking about you all day..." he said, and those golden eyes twinkled mischievously at me. His hand quickly went up under my shirt, and he squeezed at me through my bra. "Aw, I like it better when there's nothing under here," he said as he kissed at my neck urgently.

I gasped for breath. "Luke...Luke! We're out in public!"

He lazily looked around the grove. "But there's no one here. I don't think Charlie will tell anyone, so..." he trailed off as he began kissing and touching at me again. I groaned, rolling eyes back in my head. He pushed the hem of my shirt up over my breasts, then worked his fingers underneath the soft cotton of my bra. He pulled back a little to look at me. "Damn, this is way better in the daylight." I just blushed, and he continued to touch at me.

He traced his knuckles down my abdomen, and then slipped his whole hand down the front of my pants. "Luke!" I squealed.

"It's cool," he murmured, kissing at my neck as he worked his fingers lower down. I groaned and felt my knees start to buckle when he reached me. He inhaled quickly with a hiss. "Whoa, you are so wet down there...whoa..." His fingers rubbed into me insistently, and I squirmed against him. I pressed my hand on the outside of his hand, directing him on exactly how to touch me. All that could be heard in the quiet grove was our heavy breathing and soft moans.

My whole body was flushed, and I thrashed my head from side to side, overcome with pleasure. "Luke...I..." I pulled hard on the front of his shirt with one white knuckled fist as I came. After I was done shuddering, Luke slipped his hand out, and started kissing me insistently once more. I could feel that he was working at his pants, and my afterglow quickly merged into apprehension. Was he just going to get naked in public? He was so wild...

My thoughts were broken off my Luke's voice, whispering insistently in my ear. "Please...please touch it," Luke groaned. "I'm about to explode, oh please, Angela," he continued to beg. He took my hand and brought it to himself. I realized then that all he had done was open his zipper and pull his hardness out of his boxers. With a shaking hand, I wrapped my hand around him.

This was different that touching him through his boxers in the dark. "It" was right there, out in the open, in the light of day. I didn't look at it; rather, I kept my eyes fixed on the front of Luke's shirt instead. I just stroked my hand up and down him. It was like a smooth, hard length of rock wrapped in silk. Luke pressed his face into my neck, groaning with desire. "Oh, yeah, Angela..." he moaned. "Do it faster...faster..." I complied, my face blushing. I stroked more rapidly at him, and I could hear him giving a low growl.

"Oh, Angela," he said through gritted teeth. "I'm gonna come!" My body flushed to hear him say that, and he cried out in ecstasy. At the same time, his release spurted out, landing on my exposed stomach. I couldn't help but look down in surprise, and in addition to seeing the very unusual mess on myself, I also saw his manhood, which I was still holding tightly in one hand.

I let go of him as he sputtered apologies. He whipped his bandanna off his head and wiped my stomach off with it. "Sorry about that," he said awkwardly. We both tittered with nervous laughter as we set our clothes and everything right again, then we looked at each other. The bliss in his golden eyes just about melted my heart. He leaned in and gave me a long passionate kiss. Our faces were flushed as we pulled apart. "Well, let's go get some lunch! I'm starving!" he said cheerfully, taking me by the hand and pulling me out of the grove. I marveled at how quickly he could turn from sexy Luke to goofy Luke.

We ate lunch at the Sundae Inn, like we often did. Colleen took our orders, noticing Luke's bare head as she did so. "Oh Luke, where's your bandanna?"

"Got dirty," he replied, grinning. I clenched and unclenched my hands nervously, since I knew what had happened to it. I could see the tip of it poking out of his pocket.

She noticed our flushed faces and commented, "Well, anyway, you two look like you've been having fun!"

I started to stammer and protest, but Luke just chirped, "Yup!" Colleen smiled and went to get our food.

I turned to him. "Why did you admit that we had been...you know?"

He stared at me with wide, innocent eyes. "That's not what she meant. Gee, Angela, you have a dirty mind." He laughed. "Nobody but us knows what just happened." His golden eyes gleamed at me, and I had to look away, my face flushing.

"Charlie, too," I mumbled, playing with my napkin. Luke roared with laughter, and I finally started laughing too.

The next morning, I was just about to change out of my pajamas when I heard a knock at the door. I briefly considered finishing dressing, but it might take a little while and whoever it was, probably the mayor, might get restless and leave. My pajamas were decent and they covered everything, so I moved forward to answer the door like I was, smoothing my hair with one hand as I went.

I opened the door to reveal Luke there, grinning and holding a jar of something. He advanced forwards, and I backed up to let him in, shutting the door behind him. "Mornin'!" he said, as cheerful as ever.

"What's this?" I asked of the slightly sticky jar he thrust into my hands.

"Honey," he replied. "I found it in a tree I cut down yesterday." He blushed a little. "Okay, so really it was excuse to get out of the shop for a minute. Because," he moved forward, kissing me, "I just had to see you."

I sighed happily into the kiss, then pulled away to set the jar down. "Heh," I laughed, rubbing my thumb and forefinger together. "I have honey on my hand."

To my surprise and delight, he grabbed me by the wrist and brought the hand to his mouth. He licked the honey off, and I thought I would collapse right there. "Oh, Angela," he said as he brought his mouth off, "I thought about you ALL night. I thought it was going to kill me!" He pulled me in close for another kiss, and slid his hands suggestively up and down my body. My hands kneaded absentmindedly at the front of his shirt, and after a few minutes of kissing, he urged me back towards the bed.

I sat down on it, and he sat next to me, kissing at my neck as he worked at the buttons of my pajama top. When he got them undone, he spread it to the sides, bringing his hands to my bare chest. He had his work gloves on, and I shuddered at the sensation of smooth leather on my skin. His hands touched and teased me, and I moaned with delight.

One hand then dropped down, stroking at the top of my thigh through my pajamas. He slid up to my hip, squeezing at the flesh there. I started to lay back on the bed, and he quickly layered himself over me. His hands flew down to his waistband, unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans. I trembled with anticipation as he slid them down over his hips, leaving his boxers on. He then pressed himself close to me, rubbing himself against me. I could feel how hard he was, and it made me moan with desire.

"Come on, Angela," he whispered in my ear as we rubbed against each other. "I wanna hear you say my name over and over again like you did when you were in my bed." I shuddered at his words, and he moved more briskly against me. I wrapped my pajama clad thighs around his waist as I angled my hips so that he was hitting me in just the right spot. My hands gripped the sleeves of his T-shirt, and I pressed my lips together tightly as I concentrated intently on the sensations building up inside of me.

"Luke," I murmured, and he groaned.

"Hell yeah...I love when you say my name like that," he said, grinding more furiously against me. My breathing became shallow as I got closer and closer to the edge.

It was like the whole world was melting away as I climaxed, and I cried out his name again and again. He gave a low groan of satisfaction as he let himself go. "Oh, Angela, Angela..." he whispered, bringing his lips to mine. We kissed softly back and forth as we both tried to recover from the overwhelming ecstasy.

After a while, he reluctantly got to his feet, pulling up and refastening his jeans. "Well, now I gotta get back to work and think of an excuse as to why I need to change my clothes." I bit my lip, muffling a laugh, and he just grinned, leaning in for one last kiss. "Okay, I'll see you tonight. You haven't forgotten about the firefly festival, have you?"

"Of course not," I said, but in reality, with all that had happened between us in the last three days, I had forgotten entirely. "What time again?"

"Seven. Meet me at Caramel Falls," he said, then left.

That evening at a few minutes until seven, I walked down the path to Caramel Falls. I was surprised to see almost the entire town camped out on the banks of the water. I was staring, deep in thought, when someone poked me in the back, surprising me. "Boo," Luke said, and I wheeled around to see his grinning face. I started smiling too, and we settled down to watch the fireflies.

Gill was sitting nearby with his father, and he turned to look at us, a look of disdain on his face. "Oh, no, I am NOT sitting near Luke." He looked at me. "You're not going to be able to enjoy it, you know," he said as he stood up to move somewhere else. "Luke runs his mouth the whole time, full of stupid jokes, and he scares half the fireflies away." He turned back to Luke. "You know, for the sake of all the rest of the islanders, you should skip this festival. You just ruin it for everyone."'

I started to get a little ticked off at Gill, and I opened my mouth to say something, but Luke spoke first. I glanced at him, and he was unperturbed by Gill's comments, still grinning happily. "Heh...as usual, my reputation precedes me. Look, Gill, we'll move a little further back from everyone, okay? Just in case. But anyway, I'm gonna be quiet this time. You'll see."

Gill just sniffed haughtily. "Pshhh. I'll believe THAT when I hear it. Or rather, don't hear it." He sat back down, and Luke and I moved further back.

"You shouldn't let him talk to you like that," I murmured. "He gets away with being so rude to people just because his dad's the mayor."

Luke shrugged carelessly. "Eh, but he's right. I always run my mouth and it bothers everyone. It's just hard to stay quiet for so long. I figure, I can't be the only one so bored, and I start telling jokes and stuff to entertain the crowd." He grinned cheekily. "But it never goes over that well. It's always, 'Shut up, Luke!' and 'For the Goddess's sake, be quiet, Luke!' I still keep trying every year, though."

I looked at him seriously. "But...this year you're going to be quiet, right?"

He looked back at me, his gold flecked eyes shimmering innocently. "Of course. I've got something else to do this year." And with that, he leaned forward, pressing his lips to mine. My eyes widened and I looked around at the crowd as I pulled away from the kiss.

"Are you serious? In front of everyone?" I hissed.

"It's cool, Angela," he whispered back. "We're so far back from everyone, and look; they're all looking forwards." He smiled, moving in close once more. "Nobody is paying attention to us..." he murmured as his lips caught mine again.

Minutes went by like seconds as we kissed. It started out soft and gentle, but it became incredibly heated. Luckily, for decency's sake, he stuck to kissing, only using his hands to stroke at my hair or to hold me by my shoulders. By the end of the session, I was totally wet, and I wished that everyone would disappear right then so that we could do more. Soft clapping from the crowd brought me back to reality, and I jerked my face away from his, half afraid that they were watching us and clapping for some sick reason.

But as I looked out over the crowd, I realized that it signified the end of the festival. People were standing up and heading back home. Gill approached us, and I blushed, trying to cover my kiss swollen mouth nonchalantly with one hand.

"I commend you, Angela," he said, and I was puzzled. "You managed to keep loudmouth here quiet the whole time. How ever did you manage that?"

I blushed harder, stuttering for an answer. Luke answered for me, grinning. "She's talented." Gill just shrugged, turning to leave with everyone else. We watched them filter out until it was just us left.

Luke suddenly turned to me. "Aw, hell yeah. Now they're all gone," he said, smiling widely. I nodded, hoping we could pick up where we left off. He totally caught me off guard, however, with the next thing he said. "Let's go skinnydipping."

I shook my head wildly. "Are...are you serious?! No way!"

His golden eyes got that naughty twinkle in them. "Oh yeah...come on, it'll be badass."

"But what if someone sees?!" I argued.

He shrugged. "Nobody's going to see. They're all gone. Come on, Angela...you know it'll be hot as hell."

I finally gave in, and we moved in close to the water. He started to strip off all his clothes without a moment's hesitation, and I averted my eyes modestly, undressing at a much slower pace. I heard a splash, and looked over to see that he was already in the water. He bobbed to the surface, wiping water out of his eyes. "Aw, yeah...the water's all warm and stuff." I nervously unhooked my bra and laid it with my other clothes, then slipped out of my panties as well. I tentatively stepped into the water, then waded out to where he was at. I tried to ignore the fact that he was ogling me rather unabashedly.

He pulled me in close against him, kissing me deeply. "Damn, you're so sexy," he breathed against my lips. We treaded water and kissed at each other. I reached down and stroked at him lightly, and he groaned into my mouth.

We eventually ended up at a shallow stone bank near the waterfall. He slid up onto it, sitting in front of me, the water just barely covering the tops of this thighs. His erection stood up from his lap, and his eyes got that twinkle, sending me a clear signal of what he wanted. I was nervous, but I swam a little closer, getting in between his legs. I took him in hand, and then slowly closed my mouth over him. He groaned in delight, trembling underneath me. "Ohhh...damn, Angela. That feels so amazing..." he breathed, and I was encouraged to continue. He inhaled sharply as I worked, and suddenly, I felt him release in my mouth with no warning. I swallowed in surprise, and brought my mouth off, looking up at him.

He slicked his hair back with one hand, his body still shuddering with pleasure. "Heh...sorry. It just happened all of the sudden." I murmured that it was okay, and he slipped back down into the water with me. He kissed at my neck, then brought his face close to mine, narrowing his eyes at me in a way that was so sexy, I thought I would die. "Angela...I want to do something for you, too..." I trembled against him.

"You don't have to, just because I..." I protested weakly.

"No, I want to..." He urged me to sit where he had been sitting, and I was very nervous. I felt incredibly exposed and vulnerable like this, but I tried to just relax and focus on what was happening. He spread my thighs wider with his hands, then brought his face in between. Everything of mine was completely underwater, but he just licked at me under the surface. It felt so incredible, that I thought I was going to pass out. I reached out, grabbing at his hair to steady myself. He murmured happily, and brought one hand off my thigh, moving it to meet his mouth. He slipped one finger inside of me, and I had to cover my mouth to keep from screaming. He slipped it in and out of me, building up a rhythm, as he teased me with his mouth. I looked down on him with lusty, half lidded eyes.

I don't know how much time passed; it was like there was nothing else in the world while it was happening. Before I knew it, I was tangling my fingers wildly in his hair, moaning out his name as I came. I was shaking with ecstasy afterwards, completely unable to think or move. Luke pulled me down into the water with him, and hugged me close. My whole body felt limp and drained in a good way, and I just closed my eyes, pressing my face into his neck, totally satisfied.


	6. United

Chapter 6

The next day, we ate lunch as usual in the Sundae Inn. Colleen brought our food, and as she sat it down, Luke picked up his fork and knife, banging them on the table playfully. "Where's my mayonnaise? I want mayonnaise!" he chanted. Colleen just shook her head and fetched a bottle, placing it in front of him. He picked it up with a smile, and tried to squeeze some on his plate. "Hrmm, it's almost empty," he said, beating on it.

"Gee, I wonder who ate it all?" I teased. He just grinned and continued to smack at the bottle. He then flicked open the cap, and we were both startled when mayonnaise flew out of it sideways and squirted onto my shirt. Luke set down the bottle quickly and reached forward, wiping off my shirt with his napkin as he apologized. I looked up at him, biting my lip. "Huh, I'm having deja vu." Luke gave a slightly embarrassed laugh, and I giggled.

After we were done eating, we left and headed through Waffle Town, back towards the carpenter's. He suddenly grabbed me, twirling me around and planting a big kiss on me. I smiled up at him, and then our attention was drawn by someone clearing their throat. We both looked over, seeing Gill standing in the path, his hands on his hips, looking impatient. "Excuse me, but you two lovers are blocking the path."

Luke gave a laugh. "Silly Gilly," Gill cringed at the nickname, "We're not lovers! Angela's my best friend." He hugged me tighter as he said this.

Gill arched one sculpted eyebrow. "Oh? I wasn't aware that best friends kissed each other on the lips." I blushed, glancing a surreptitious glance at Luke, who had flushed crimson as well. He stammered for something to say, his brow knotting together. Gill just sniffed haughtily and squeezed by us on the path, heading on towards Town Hall.

When Gill was gone, Luke stared down on me, his eyes wide like he was seeing me in a whole new light. "Angela...are we 'lovers'?" I nodded rather sheepishly at him, looking away and then looking back at him. "That's fucking awesome!" he cheered. I burst out into laughter, marveling at how cute it was that he got excited about every little thing.

He kissed me again, then dragged me down the path with him. "Sweet! I gotta go back to work now, but meet me at Alan's Tree at 3pm, okay?" I agreed, and we parted ways at the Maple Lake crossroads. I fished for a couple of hours, then dropped off what I had caught in the shipping bin, and headed for Alan's Tree. It was in the Brownie Ranch district, so it was a decent walk. I settled down under the shade, admiring the strange red flower that grew there.

I didn't realize it was happening, but I dozed off. I was awakened by Luke kneeling over me, shaking my shoulder and calling my name softly. I sat up slowly, feeling groggy. I yawned and stretched, and Luke reached out, brushing some grass off of the side of my face. "You look so cute when you're sleeping," he said. I blushed, and he helped me to my feet.

Luke took a deep breath, then grabbed me by my shoulders. I was a little taken aback by the serious look on his face, but I said nothing, just waiting for him. He finally spoke. "Okay, Angela, I got something real important to say, so listen close. I...I love you!"

My heart swelled with delight. I sighed happily. "I love you, too, Luke."

"Really? Oh man, I am so stoked!" he cried, pumping his arm. I bit my lip at this typically enthusiastic response. "I don't even know how I'm going to sleep tonight!" He turned on me suddenly. "Can I sleep at your house?" he asked hopefully.

I laughed. "I have a single bed, Luke."

"You gotta get a double bed so I can sleep over!"

I shook my head and laughed. "I can't afford one yet."

He grabbed my hand. "Then I'll buy one for you!"

I cleared my throat and shook my head. "Luke. Where do you buy beds from in this town?"

He grinned. "Well, duh! The carpenter's shop. I live there, silly."

I tilted my head at him. "And who works the counter in the carpenter's shop?"

He was still uncomprehending. "My dad."

"So, are you going to walk up to your dad and proclaim that you're buying me a double bed? What is he going to think about that?" Luke's face fell when he finally realized what I was driving at.

"Oh shit...yeah, that's not gonna work." He groaned. "Man, this sucks! I love you so bad, I don't want to ever let you go!" he said as he embraced me, squeezing me tightly. As he pressed against me, I could feel that he was hard. He rubbed it against me, and whispered, "See? What are we gonna do about that?"

I leaned my head back, looking up at him. "We can still go to my house...there's just not enough room to sleep over. But there's room for other things..." His golden eyes glittered in that familiar way, and he grabbed me tightly by the hand, dragging me down the path back to Caramel River District. I panted as I tried to keep up with his pace.

Once we were in my house, I leaned forward, putting my hands on my thighs and wheezing a little. "Wow, I couldn't ever say that you're not enthusiastic about being with me," I panted. I looked up at him, and he was already peeling off his vest and tearing his white tank top off. "Geez, Luke, slow down!" I cried as I turned around to lock the door.

But by the time I turned around, the only piece of clothing on his body was the bandanna on his head. I squeaked as he moved forward to me, working frantically at the buttons and zippers on my clothes as he kissed me. "Ohhh, Angela, I gotta have you," he groaned, touching me everywhere as he undressed me.

"Luke..." was all I could manage to say before he pushed me back on the bed, layering himself on top of me and catching my mouth for a deep kiss. We were both completely naked, and he was using one hand to pry my thighs apart. I gave in, spreading my thighs, and he nestled his hips there. I could feel him right outside of me, and he bucked his hips lightly, nudging the tip of his hardness against my wetness. I froze up because we had never done THAT before, and he was acting like it was just going to happen any second, no big deal!

"Luke!" I cried, starting to protest. But I looked up in his face and saw the passion and desire there; I could smell the scent of freshly chopped wood on his skin; and foremost, I could feel my own need. I don't know what exactly came over me, but my body acted of its own will, making me reach down and take him in hand, guiding him inside of me. It stung for a brief moment, but it quickly passed; pain faded into pleasure. He thrust into me, and I just moaned in delight, my hands grabbing wildly at his back.

I looked at his face, and it was almost reverant; overwhelmed with ecstasy. He was being absolutely quiet, a rarity for him; and he just stared at me in amazement, like he couldn't believe something could feel this good. I was pretty sure that was what he was thinking, because I was thinking the same thing. We simply rocked against each other, enjoying the incredible sensations. He began to thrust faster into me, and I wrapped my legs around his hips, inhaling sharply as I felt my climax begin to build up. I pressed my hands into his lower back. "Stay...in close to me..." I instructed brokenly, needing to feel him pressed deeply into me in order to finish. To my delight he complied perfectly, pushing in as deep as he could and staying still there as I rocked in a furious rhythm against him.

"Ah! Ah! Oh, Luke! Luke!" I cried as I came. He gave a low groan, suddenly bucking against me rapidly once again, obviously releasing as well. We struggled to catch our breath, staring at each other in absolute adoration, our bodies flushed from exertion and passion. He withdrew and collapsed on the bed next to me, pulling me in close and kissing me. We lay on our sides, facing each other, and I stroked at his chest with the back of my hand. He reached up and stroked my hair lightly, then traced his fingertips over my shoulder and down my arm. I gazed into his golden eyes and saw myself reflected there. Oh, could life get any better than this?

"Let's get married," Luke blurted out. Oh my. Apparently it could get better.

My face became very red. "What?"

He smiled widely at me. "Let's get married," he repeated.

"L-L-Luke...are you serious? Don't joke around about something like that."

"I'm not joking around! I love you so much, I think I could die. I just want to be with you all the time. Isn't that why people get married?" I agreed that it was. "Well, then why not?"

I sat up. "Luke - we've only been lovers for 4 days. You just told me you loved me for the first time," I glanced at the clock, "an hour ago. Should we really be talking about marriage now?"

He sat up as well, an intense look in his eyes. "Totally! Why waste anymore time? I want us to get married! Now! Today!"

"Today?" I shrieked. I had already been astounded at the idea of planning to get married, but actually getting married today?

He nodded, jumping up and redressing. "Yeah, the Town Hall is open for one more hour! We can go and have the mayor marry us."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I cried, holding my head in my hands. "Are you for real?"

He knelt on the floor in front of the bed, taking my hand in his. "I am like, deadly serious. Please?" He looked up at me with golden puppy dog eyes, and I was suddenly hypnotized.

"Okay!" I heard myself saying it, but the back of my brain was screaming out in protest. My body once again acted of its own will, getting dressed and taking Luke by the hand. We hurried into town as fast as we could go.

Before I knew it, we were in the town hall, standing in front of Gill at the counter. "Can I help you?" he asked, looking at us like we were bugs.

"Yep. We wanna get married!" Luke pronounced proudly.

Gill just stared at us open mouthed. "Oh, my Goddess, Luke, you are the biggest retard in this town. Just a few hours ago you were telling me that you and Angela are just friends, who happen to kiss each other, and now you're just friends, who are happening to be getting married? What the hell is wrong with you, you doofus?"

I started to get mad at Gill, and I was about to give him a piece of my mind about the way he talked to people, but Luke spoke first. "Yeah, yeah, Gill. I'm a big retard. You've been saying that since we learned to talk. But it seems like I'm the one standing here with a hot girl, about to get married, and you're the one standing there alone wearing plaid shorts." I stifled a laugh, and Gill flapped his mouth like a fish out of water. Luke continued, "Now, can we get married or not?"

Elli thankfully stepped forward then. "I'll call Mayor Hamilton and see if he can come over now." Turns out, he could. He showed up just a few minutes later, out of breath.

"My oh my, I can't believe this. So, let me get this straight - you want to book the church for a wedding?"

Luke shook his head. "No, we wanna get married right now. You can do that, right?"

Hamilton just stared for a moment. He leaned in, lowering his voice. "What's the rush, children? Are you...in trouble, Angela?" I blushed furiously, shaking my head.

"No, we just want to get married today," I replied, feeling a bit embarrassed at his assumption.

Hamilton pondered it for a moment, and finally shrugged. "Well, I don't see why not. There's just this short form to fill out, and you can pay the fee for a marriage license to Gill." I glanced at Gill, who sneered at us. I looked back at Hamilton, taking the clipboard from him and filling it out, since I had better handwriting than Luke. I started to feel a little dizzy at that point, but I kept calm. I handed it to Luke to sign, and he turned it in to Gill and paid for the marriage license.

Hamilton nodded. "Well, we just need two witnesses..." We three turned and looked at Elli and Gill.

Elli clapped her hands happily. "Cool! It's kinda sorta like I'm your bridesmaid, Angela!" I nodded, smiling, then glanced at Gill. He was sulking, arms folded over his chest. He grumbled something about a retard, but Elli prodded him until he agreed.

"Fine, whatever!" he exclaimed begrudgingly. "You're still the stupidest person I've ever met, Luke."

Luke just grinned. "Cool." I had to laugh at his carefree attitude, and then I smiled as he took my hand. We stood in front of the mayor, who pronounced us man and wife. "That's it?" Luke asked, stunned that it was so simple. "I thought weddings took like, an hour."

Hamilton spread out his hands. "Only when they're in a church, when there are rituals to do. Legally, that's it." He signed the marriage license, glancing up from it to say. "Oh, ahem, you may now kiss the bride."

We beamed at each other and pressed our lips together. I could hear Gill snorting in disdain about the whole thing, and then I heard him yelp, presumably because Elli stomped on his foot for being a sourpuss. The two of them were signing the document when we came out of the kiss, which they made a copy of for town hall records, then gave us the original.

We walked out of Town Hall, me feeling dazed, and him strutting proudly. "Oh, Luke!" I cried, realizing something. "Isn't your father going to be mad?"

Luke shrugged carelessly. "What for?"

"Um, because we just eloped, and we didn't even invite him."

Luke shrugged again. "I'm a big boy. He'll get over it." I was a little doubtful, but we kept on walking to the carpenter's shop. I folded up the marriage license carefully, putting it in my pocket. I was still marveling over the fact that I was now Luke's wife.

We went into the shop, and I suddenly felt about a foot tall when I saw Dale look up, knitting his heavy blue eyebrows together at us. I unconsciously shied away a little, stepping slightly behind Luke as he began to speak.

"Pops, I need to buy a double bed," he announced. I winced.

Dale looked puzzled. "...Huh?"

Luke snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah! First, I gotta tell you something." He put an arm around my shoulders, pulling me in close. I flashed Dale an apologetic look as Luke proudly crowed, "We got married!"

Dale just stared at us silently for a full minute. I sweated nervously, and Luke never broke his smile. Finally, Dale burst out into hearty laughter. "Oh son, that's a good one," he said, wiping his eyes.

Luke shook his head. "I'm not kidding," he insisted.

Dale's face fell. "WHAT? Of all the harebrained things you've ever done! You eloped? What would your mother say?"

Luke made a fist, getting angry. I had never seen him mad before, and I started suddenly. "Don't bring Mom into this!"

Dale got mad too. "Well, what would she think?!"

"She'd be happy for me, you fat old grump!" They glared back and forth for a minute, and I edged away slightly. Finally, Dale dropped his shoulders and gave a wry smile.

"Yeah, you're right. I just...I guess it's hard for me to think of you as a man. But you are 20 years old now. I should have seen this coming. Except, errr..." he scratched his head. "Weren't you just insisting a few days ago that she was just your friend?"

Luke stammered a little. "Well, y-y-yeah, but...a lot has happened since then!"

Dale just sighed, shaking his head. "Oh, young love...it doesn't always follow the rules. Well, your mother and I got married after only a month of dating, so I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." He reached his arms out, and Luke stepped forward to give him a hug. Dale glanced over at me. "Come here, you." I was scared for a moment, but then he engulfed me in a big bear hug as well. "Ah, I guess from now on you can call me Pops, too."

That evening, he and Luke moved Luke's double bed to my house, so as it turned out, we didn't have to buy one after all. I made us some dinner, and we both settled down into our bed. Luke pulled me in close, snuggling me. "Wow, this has been a pretty eventful day, hasn't it?"

"I guess," I shrugged. "Let's see, we admitted that we were a couple, we admitted that we loved each other, we made love for the first time, we got engaged, we got married, and we moved in together. Just a normal, everyday day!"

"Oh, but it's not over yet..." Luke said, and I saw that mischief rise up in his golden eyes. He rolled on top of me, and we made love for the second time that day, but for the first time as husband and wife.


	7. Learning

Chapter 7

I was awakened the next morning by the harsh sound of shrill beeping. I sat up like a bolt, trying to figure out where it was coming from. I finally ascertained that it was Luke's alarm clock, which, like him and all the rest of his stuff, had moved into my house last night. He himself was sleeping peacefully, sprawled out on his stomach on the bed, unperturbed by the beeping.

"Luke! Luke!" I nudged him. "Your alarm clock is going off."

"No izznot..." was the muffled reply.

"It IS going off. Can't you hear it?" I asked.

"No." He rolled even more onto his stomach, burying his face in the pillow.

I sighed heavily, draping over him to grab at the clock. I fumbled with it for a while, trying to figure out how to shut it off. It just kept shrieking at me, so finally I had to just pull the plug out of the wall. I had never had an alarm clock before. I kind of just got up whenever and started doing my chores. No real schedule for me. But Luke had a job, even if his dad was the boss, and he had to be there at a certain time.

I nudged Luke again. "You'd better get up, Luke. You're going to be late."

"But I wanna stay in bed with you..." he mumbled, grabbing onto one of my thighs and hugging it. I also wanted to stay in bed with him, but the sensible side of my brain knew that we couldn't.

"Well, I'm getting up now," I said, even though I would have preferred to sleep longer. Since I was next to the wall, I had to crawl over him to get out of bed. I yelped when he grabbed my ass as I made my way over. "Luke!" I cried out. I looked back at him, and he was grinning cheekily, his eyes closed. I just sighed and went into the kitchen.

As I was making coffee, I finally saw him get up and go into the bathroom. After what had to have been the world's fastest shower, he reemerged from the bathroom, his eyes barely open and a towel around his waist. To my great surprise, he threw the towel aside as he sat at the table. Yes, my new husband of less than 24 hours was sitting absolutely stark naked at my dinner table. I set down a cup of coffee in front of him and cleared my throat.

"Thanks, Honey, you're the best," he said, sipping the coffee.

Even though I flushed a little with happiness at him calling me an affectionate pet name, I tapped my foot. "Are you going to eat breakfast with no clothes on?"

He grinned up at me. "Why not? It's always been a dream of mine to eat breakfast naked."

I gaped. "Are you serious? And anyway, it's probably not sanitary to do that." He just shrugged, but after a little pleading and coaxing from me, he finally got dressed. He sat back down at the table, and I smiled at him. "Okay, much better. Now, what would you like for breakfast?"

He mused the question for a moment. "Spinach cake."

I gaped at him once more. "Spinach...cake? What is that?"

He shrugged like it was the most normal thing in the world. "It's cake made with spinach in it. It's yummy." I fought the urge to gag.

"Well, I don't have any of that. What would you like instead?"

He waved his hand. "Oh, anything with spinach is fine."

I stared at him long and hard. This is what I got for marrying a man I hardly knew. I realized that we had never eaten breakfast together before, and it dawned on me that he might actually be serious. He ate spinach for breakfast on a regular basis. Between this and the catastrophe of trying to get him up, I didn't know if I was going to be able to handle being married to him. But then he looked up at me with those sparkling golden eyes, making my heart melt, and I remembered why I was doing this.

I smiled. "I don't have any kind of spinach, so...how about eggs instead?" He nodded, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Spinach was not one of my favorite foods, and while I was more than aware that it was his favorite vegetable, and I didn't mind making it for him for lunch or dinner, I didn't think I would be able to get used to the smell of it cooking in the morning. I scrambled us both some eggs, and of course he put mayonnaise all over his portion. I just kept that smile on my face.

When he finished eating, he stood up and kissed me goodbye, promising to come home for lunch. He took my face in both his hands. "I love you so much. You're like, the most awesome thing that has ever happened to me." I flushed happily. He skipped out the door, as cheerful as ever.

I set to work on my farm chores. I had to let my chickens out to graze, collect their eggs, then go and inspect each chicken to make sure she was healthy. I then moved on to watering my crops. The one time harvest crops had already played out their time in the season, so all that was left was the tomatoes and corn. After watering, I harvested a few ripe ones and took them inside. I would be going through a lot more food now that I had Luke living with me, so I decided that I better start setting more crops aside from now on.

When Luke came home for lunch, he was toting several bags with him. Curious, I peeked inside one. It was full of cans of spinach. A quick examination of the rest revealed that they were all full of cans of spinach. I gave a low laugh. "What, was this your personal stock from your dad's house?"

"Bingo!" he exclaimed, and I had to hide my face. I had just been kidding! "Yeah, anyway, Bo and Pops don't eat spinach, so they said it was cool if I took it all. Oh yeah, and I have this too." He reached into his carpenter bag, pulling out a faded, tattered piece of paper. I unfolded it and and squinted to read the words there. The handwriting was as bad as Luke's.

"That's my mom's spinach cake recipe. You know, just in case you want to make me some." He looked a little sheepish, and my heart was about bursting with love for him for some strange reason.

"Sure, I'll make you some..." I leaned in and gave him a little kiss. "I wasn't even aware that it existed."

"Oh, it doesn't, not really. Pops said that Mom made it by accident one time, when two pages of the cookbook stuck together. The first page was sponge cake, but the page that got stuck had spinach casserole on the back. She wasn't always the best cook, Pops says...anyway, it was a disaster, but I was like five then and I thought it was delicious. I still do. So she copied down everything she had done 'wrong', and voila, Spinach Cake." He grinned. "I'll eat ANYTHING with spinach in it. Pops sometimes made me some for breakfast. He could bake one cake and I could eat it for the next three or four days."

I figured that was pretty manageable, so I smiled. "So...what can I make you for lunch?" He grinned widely, showing all his teeth. "Let me guess," I said, pretending to think really hard, "...something with spinach in it?" He nodded, and I rolled my eyes, still smiling. "Okay, you got it."

We ate grilled fish and sauteed spinach for lunch; though admittedly, the greater portion of the spinach ended up on his plate. Not that he minded, of course. He took a big drink of water and set his glass down. "Okay, so..." he glanced at the clock, "I have thirty minutes until I have to get back to work..." He turned those mischievous golden eyes on me, and the next thing I knew, we were undressing each other in a frenzy. His vest went flying one way, my pants went flying another. He kissed at my mouth hungrily as he tore my clothes off, backing me towards the bed.

When we got there, he sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled me to straddle him. Even though we had never done it in this position before, it was pretty easy to figure out how it worked. I held onto his shoulders, getting my balance, and then I positioned myself above him. I was already very wet, and I eased myself down carefully on his length, whimpering a little with desire. He held onto me by my hips, throwing his head back and hissing at the sensation as I took him in to the hilt. Once he was in all the way, I rocked against him for a few moments, then I lifted myself up and down. He groaned in ecstasy, wrapping his arms around my back tightly and pressing his face into my shoulder.

"Ohhhh...Angela..." he moaned, his face buried in my skin, "It feels so good..." He cried out in delight as I bucked faster against him, working towards my climax. "Angela...Angela...if you...keep doing that...I'm gonna come..." he warned me.

I leaned down and whispered in his ear, "Go ahead." He groaned loudly, grabbing onto my hips and jamming up furiously into me. The burst of passion from him as he released made me climax, and I cried out in sheer ecstasy. "Luke...oh, Luke..." I murmured as I came down from my delirium. He stroked at my back, and we kissed each other sweetly. I climbed off of him carefully, and we both got in our clothes again.

He sat back down next to me on the bed, nuzzling his face into my neck. "That was amazing," he sighed.

"Yeah..." I breathed. "For that, I can make some spinach cake." He laughed.

"Okay, I'm going to hold you to that," he said, kissing me on my nose.

So, after he left to go back to work, I set to work as well, reading over the recipe. Sure enough, it started out like a cake recipe, with flour, eggs, and butter, but ended up with spinach. I just followed the directions word for word, and an hour later, I had a piping hot spinach cake on my kitchen counter. I stared at it warily. It looked like a normal cake, a pleasing yellow shade, except for the flecks of green that permeated it. It was a little nauseating looking, to be honest, like a moldy cake. I sure wasn't going to be eating it. But, if that's what Luke wanted...I'd give him anything he wanted. That was evident in the fact that I had married him on a whim. I couldn't believe that 24 hours ago, I had been a single woman, and now here I was, baking a cake for my husband. It was almost too bizarre to be true; but it was true, after all.

I appraised the twenty seven cans of spinach that now were stacked in my pantry. I suddenly had the epiphany of something I could make him for breakfast with spinach in it, besides the weird cake - an omelet with spinach in it! Oh well, I could save that for when he ate all of this spinach cake.

Fall was coming in just a couple days, so I ran to the seed shop to go ahead and purchase seeds for the upcoming season. Anissa, the owners' daughter, greeted me at the door as she was exiting the shop, which was also her house. "Congratulations, Angela! I heard that you got married!" I smiled and thanked her, then thought of something and asked her how she knew I got married. "Well, it was on the news this morning."

I gaped at her. "The...news?" I squeaked.

She laughed, waving her hand lightly. "Oh, you know, that little one minute island round up thing that Elli records in the basement of the town hall every morning and puts on a continuous loop all day." She smiled, leaning in a little. "There's not much news on this little island sometimes, so she must have jumped at the chance to report on something that people actually wanted to hear!"

I went in and bought my seeds, then returned home. Luke was already there, and he was admiring the spinach cake on the counter. "It looks awesome, Angela! You're such a cool wife!" he exclaimed, wrapping me up in his arms and rocking side to side. I just smiled up at him, then I told him that we were the big news today.

"No freaking way! I'm on TV? I gotta see it!" I switched on my crummy little TV set, and sure enough, there was Elli.

"Yesterday, our newest resident, Angela, got married at the town hall to our very own Luke." The camera cut away to show a picture of a younger Luke fighting a raccoon.

"Aw, hell yeah!" Luke yelled, his mouth full of spinach cake. I just laughed hard. Being married to Luke was definitely going to be fun.


	8. Pleasure

Chapter 8

The next morning, I woke up not to the shrill beeping of a clock, but something much more pleasant – Luke kissing me all over my stomach. I groggily cracked open my eyes, and smiled down at him. He had pushed my shirt up and was pressing his lips against my navel. He looked up at me and grinned.

"Well, it looks like you're up," I murmured.

His golden eyes lit up with mischief. "Oh, I'm up. I'm reeeally up this morning." He reared up on his knees to show me what he was talking about. I blushed at how far his boxers were poking out because of his arousal. He just gave a naughty laugh and came back down, tugging my pajama pants down with one sharp tug.

"Hey…" I protested weakly, but my words dissolved into moans as he brought his face between my thighs and twirled his tongue there. "Oh…Luke…" I moaned, tangling my fingers into his sapphire locks as he pulled my legs further apart with his hands. I melted back into the bed as he raked his fingers over the curves of my hips. After a few minutes of this treatment, I was about insane with desire.

"Luke, please…I want you…" I begged, looking down at him. He lifted up his face slowly, his lips still shimmering with my wetness. I watched, enraptured, as he tugged down his boxers and then quickly brought himself to meet me, plunging in with one move. I cried out in pleasure, wrapping my thighs around his waist and burying my face in his shoulder.

He thrust in and out of me, groaning. "Man, doing this is so awesome…" he panted out. I just moaned happily, tightening myself around him. "Damn…" he groaned. He pushed himself all the way inside of me, then stayed there, making short, precise strokes.

I was so deliciously close to my orgasm, and the anticipation was almost painfully erotic. I felt like I could explode at any time, as soon as he made just the right move against me. "Angela…I'm gonna come…" he groaned. "Oh…I can't stop!" He shuddered hard, convulsing against me as he released. I was still not quite there yet, but hovering on the edge, and I squirmed and wiggled underneath him, trying to create the friction I needed. But I was pinned in by his weight, and his body was almost still as he pulsed inside of me, so I couldn't do it alone.

"Luke…" I begged through gritted teeth, "Give it to me. Hard!"

He gave a low groan as he began bucking into me furiously. "Angela!" he cried, and my voice joined his when I screamed out my pleasure as I finally climaxed. It was the most powerful orgasm I'd ever had, and I pressed up against him, crying out in ecstasy as I savored every second of it. My screams and cries of pleasure almost sounded like sobbing, it was so intense.

After about a minute, I had recovered enough to relax my body down into the bed. Luke panted above me, then rolled off and flopped down next to me. "Whoa…that was so damn hot."

"Uh huh," I said, wiping the sweat off my forehead. We turned our heads sideways to face each other, and we both smiled gently. "I love you," I whispered.

He wiggled a little ways down in the bed, bringing his head level with my shoulder. "I love you too," he said as he kissed my arm. "I'm gonna love you forever, no matter what!"

I closed my eyes, feeling blissful. We both lay there for a while, just enjoying the afterglow, and then we got up. We both headed for the shower, and I laughed, a little embarrassed. "Come on, we can get in together," Luke urged, pulling me in with him.

I laced my hands around his neck, gazing up into his gorgeous golden eyes, which almost looked catlike as he looked down on me with them half-lidded. He leaned down to kiss me, and I pulled away suddenly. "What's wrong?" he asked, surprised.

I handed him the washcloth, my face burning with embarrassment. "You…you have…'me' all over your face," I said, biting my lip. He laughed, taking the washcloth and wetting it, then wiping his face.

"Better?" he asked, and I nodded bashfully, stepping up on my tiptoes and tilting my head up to press my lips to his gently. We pulled apart, and he mussed my hair playfully. "You sure are a strange girl, Angela. A minute ago, you were hollering at me to 'give it' to you, and now you're all shy about something like that." I flushed deeply, averting my eyes. "Aw, it's okay. That's why I love you. You're my weird little Angela."

"I am not weird!" I protested. "You're weird…spinach cake eater."

He shrugged, leaning back and getting his hair wet. "I never said I wasn't weird. I am weird." He made a face at me, and I burst into giggles. He laughed too, and we quickly showered and got dressed.

I headed for the kitchen, but he stopped me. "Oh, I can make breakfast for you today."

I eyed him warily. "Can you even cook?" I was also scared that it would be a spinach based breakfast.

He acted hurt. "I can cook! I lived in a house with two other guys! You kind of _have _to learn to cook." He shrugged. "I can't bake cakes or make pies or whatever, but I can cook all right." He moved into the kitchen, pretending to think. "Hmmm…I think what you would like for breakfast is…a spinach smoothie!"

I blanched and gagged a little at the thought, and he howled with laughter. "No, just kidding! You should have seen the look on your face when I said that, though." I stuck my tongue out at him, and he just smiled. "How about a fried egg?"

I nodded, and he set to work making it, whistling the whole time. He slid it onto my plate when he was finished, and I smiled gratefully. He ate more spinach cake for breakfast, which I rolled my eyes at. "What? It's good," he said, his mouth full of it.

"Don't you want some mayonnaise on it?" I asked slyly.

He gagged. "Ew, gross! Mayonnaise on spinach cake...how disgusting." I had to laugh at that - they were his two favorite foods, after all. If you could even consider mayonnaise a food. He sure did.

Luke went off to work, and I set out to do my farm chores. I finished up at about 11am, and then Luke came home for lunch. After he went back to work, I fished for a couple of hours in the river, catching nothing. I remembered having seen a book for sale in the general store called "Advanced Fishing." I figured that it might be advantageous to me to read it, so I headed that way, stopping by the house to put up my fishing pole.

As I rounded the corner into Waffle Town, I was dazzled by the bright afternoon sun shining over the roof of one of the buildings. As I got closer, squinting in the sunlight, I caught a glimpse of Luke's bandanna. There he was, hard at work, perched on the top of a ladder. He was hammering nails into the framework of an addition, and he stopped briefly to wipe the sweat from his brow. He hadn't seen me yet, so I just watched. He got a bottle of water from his bag, taking a quick drink, then my breath hitched in my throat as he proceeded to dump the rest of the bottle all over his head. It was like I was watching it in slow motion, as the water trickled down his face and neck, seeping into his white tank top. His arms, rippled with lean muscles, were sheened with sweat. I just stared at him, mouth agape, my body burning with lust for this gorgeous and sexy creature.

He suddenly shook his head from side to side, whipping water off of the ends of his hair. It was then that he spotted me. "Angela!" he cried out happily, descending the ladder to meet me. I closed my mouth quickly, trying not to look like an idiot. He stepped over planks of wood to reach me, and scooped me up in a big hug. His chest pressed against mine, and I could feel the wetness from him soak into me. As he started to pull away, I looked down at the wet spot on my shirt, and then I looked at his own wet tanktop. His hardened nipples were showing clearly through the thin, soaking wet material. My mouth flopped open again, and I was at a loss for words.

"What's wrong, Angela?" Luke's voice snapped me out of my daze.

"Oh...oh, nothing." I looked up into his face.

He grinned down on me. "So, whatcha doing here?"

My gaze dropped back down to his chest. "I'm here to b-buy some....buy some...sex." I clapped my hand over my mouth. "A book! I'm here to buy a book!"

Luke was already roaring with laughter. "Buy some sex? You crazy girl!" He kissed me suddenly. "Well, I gotta get back to work. See you at home." I nodded, feeling foolish, as he stepped back over to the ladder and mounted it once more. As I walked by the building to continue on to the general store, he yelled out, "And don't buy any sex from anyone but me!" He erupted into laughter once more, and to my horror, Dale and Bo, who were nearby working, turned their heads slowly to look at me, puzzled expressions on their faces. My face burned, and I ran as fast as I could the rest of the way, feeling absolutely mortified.

That night, when Luke came home, I sulked a little. "You really embarrassed me today, you know," I pouted as I cooked dinner.

"What? Oh, don't worry about Pops and Bo. They don't care."

I stomped my foot a little. "Well, I care! Don't joke about things like that in front of people!"

He grinned, leaning back in his chair, and pointed at me. "_You're_ the one that said it in the first place."

I felt my face get hot. "Y-yeah...but it was just a slip of the tongue...I couldn't help it."

He stood up, coming over to me. I shivered as he encircled my waist from behind with his arms, and nuzzled my neck. "And why couldn't you help it?" he whispered in my ear.

I began to stammer. "B-because y-you were...you were..."

"I was what?"

"...Looking so sexy up there."

He gave a short laugh. "Me? Sexy? Naw. I'm just me."

"But you're sexy...to me."

"Am I? Really? That's awesome." He nuzzled my neck some more, kissing up and down, sending shivers to my very core.

"S-s-stop..." I weakly protested. "I'll burn your dinner..."

He just kept kissing me. "Burn it. I don't care."

"But...it's creamed spinach."

That made him back off. "Damn, don't burn that!" I stifled a laugh as he leaned up against the wall. "So you think I'm sexy, huh?" I nodded, stirring the pot. "Heh heh..." He started whistling, fiddling with the necklace he was wearing. "Hmmm... creamed spinach, yummy! Creamed spinach is badass!" I stifled another laugh at how quickly his thoughts jumped around. That was my cute, silly, sweet Luke. My husband. I closed my eyes and sighed softly with happiness.


	9. Saturday

Chapter 9

The next day was Saturday, Luke's day off from work. It would be the first day off we had together since we had gotten married. Heck, since anything! I marveled over the fact that it was just last Saturday that he had accidentally grabbed me while tickling me, and that's what set this whole thing in motion. We had just been friends a week ago today, and now we were newlyweds. I rolled over in bed, snuggling on him. He murmured happily, still partially asleep. We could sleep in as late as we wanted today. And do whatever else we wanted…

I reached down under the covers, exploring below his waist. As I had expected, he was completely hard. I quickly undressed, then tugged off his boxers. I was already wet from having sexy dreams about him, and I straddled him and began to work him inside of me. He had been asleep up to this point, but he awoke, looking confused, then looking pleased when he saw what I was doing.

"Hell yeah," he breathed, his voice still raspy from sleep. "That's what I'm talking about!" He reached out and grabbed my thighs, squeezing them lightly. "Oh…Angela…you crazy girl…" he said as he tilted his head back, groaning.

"You like me when I'm crazy," I whispered, moving up and down on him. I leaned forward, placing my hands on his chest.

"I love you when you're crazy," he groaned in response. "Oh damn, Angela, you can wake me up like this every day." I just giggled, coming all the way down on him and grinding. He moaned loudly, enjoying every second. I moved faster and faster against him, feeling myself getting closer and closer to orgasm.

I licked my lips, then pressed them together and hummed lightly as I concentrated. Luke bucked himself up into me, obviously getting worked up himself. "Are you about to come?" he asked me through gritted teeth. I was only able to nod, and he quickly replied, "Oh, thank Goddess…" and then screamed out and pushed up into me wildly. I could feel him pulsing inside of me, and it pushed me over the edge, making me climax as well.

We both whimpered and sighed with pleasure, breathing heavily. Finally, I carefully dismounted him, and laid down next to his trembling body. He rolled over, stroking my hair out of my face. "Angela…I love you so much, I don't even know what to do."

I smiled back at his loving face. "Well, we can keep doing that."

He rolled his eyes back in his head and made a satisfied moan. "Fuck yeah. I'm not ever gonna get sick of doing that." I smiled happily, leaning in and kissing him sweetly.

I suddenly thought of something, and rolled out of bed. "Oh yeah, Elli called yesterday and said that I needed to come to Town Hall this morning."

Luke arched an eyebrow at me. "What for?"

"I don't know, but she said it was good." I glanced at the clock, and it was already almost 9 am. "Well, I'll just head down there now and find out." I pulled on some clothes. "Then, we can do whatever we want for the rest of the day, okay?"

Luke nodded happily. "I'll get a shower and stuff." I kissed him goodbye, and hurried into town to see what Elli wanted.

She greeted me as I walked in the door, and came around to meet me. "You got some wedding presents!"

"Really?" I asked. I was rather surprised, since we didn't really have a wedding, and I didn't really have many friends other than Luke.

"Mmm hmm," she responded. She escorted me into a side office, where some presents lay. "The big one is from the mayor, that one is from Yolanda, and that one is from Sundae Inn."

"Oh, wow," I said, very impressed. "They didn't have to do that. But it's so kind of them, and I really am happy."

"Well, I'll help you carry them home, okay?" I nodded, and I lifted up the big one while she picked up the two smaller ones. We chatted as we walked through town, and then we reached my house. I turned the knob with one hand while I balanced the package against my body, then turned around to push the door with my back.

I was still yapping cheerfully to Elli as I backed into the room, but I ceased my flow of speech when I saw the stunned look on her face. I rotated around so that I could follow her gaze, and I almost dropped the package when I saw what she was seeing.

Luke.

Still in bed, asleep.

The covers thrown back.

No clothes on.

Laying face up.

And the coup de grace, he was hard.

I managed to slide the box onto the table, and then I snatched the two boxes from Elli, slamming them down on the table, my face burning. I grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her back out of the house. After I pulled the door shut behind us, I leaned against the side of the house and slapped a hand over my face.

"I am so, so, so sorry," I wailed. "I'm not really used to him being here yet, so I didn't even think about the possibility!"

Elli just seemed to think the whole thing was amusing. She started to giggle, and I uncovered my face to peer at her skeptically. "What's so funny?"

She began laughing harder. "So…the carpets really do match the drapes…haaaa…" She wheezed for breath as she broke down in a fit of giggles. My face burned, blushing.

"Hey, you were really looking there, weren't you?" I accused.

"Well, it was kind of hard NOT to see, he was just all splayed out and everything…and may I also say, congratulations!"

I bit my lip, finally smiling. "Yeah, it is pretty impressive, isn't it?"

Elli left and I slipped back in the house. Luke was still dead to the world, and seemed to be unaware of what had just transpired. I went over to the bed and pulled the covers over him. I decided not to tell him what happened. He woke up about an hour later. "Damn, I slept good. It's awesome being able to sleep in on my day off like that - at Pops' place, Bo was always banging around the house first thing in the morning, and I never could sleep late." I just smiled, and he got showered and dressed. We ate some lunch, and then opened the wedding presents afterwards.

The gift from the mayor was two big, fluffy quilts. The present from the Sundae Inn was a bottle of Shining Mayonnaise, a gourmet kind. Luke got a kick out of that, since they knew his love for mayonnaise better than almost anyone else. He had eaten dozens and dozens of bottles worth while there over the years. And finally, the present from Yolanda was a whisk. She was one of the best cooks in town, and she knew that I was trying to learn to be a better cook as well. I really appreciated the gesture.

We went to Ben's Tree, our usual hangout place on Saturdays. While we were relaxing in the shade, he got a naughty grin on his face, and reached out, grabbing my breast. "Heh...I can do that all I want now," he laughed.

"So...what was the deal with that, anyway?" I asked.

He gave a wry smile. "It was totally an accident, I swear. But, like, once my hand was there, I realized that I liked it. I could feel like, your nipple get hard underneath my palm, and bam, I got a boner." I snickered. "Shut up! I couldn't help it! So, like, anyway, I was all confused because you were supposed to be my friend, and I didn't know what was going on. So I ran off like a dumb ass." He looked a little embarrassed.

I just smiled at him, and he laid his head down in my lap. I gently removed his bandanna and stroked at his hair. He traced his fingers over the top of my thigh, and when the movement of his fingers stopped, I looked down and saw that he had fallen asleep. How much could a guy sleep in one day? Oh well, I told myself. He worked really hard during the week, so he deserved to rest on his one day off. I gazed out over Maple Lake, watching the reflection of the sun shimmer on the surface.

I heard crunching of gravel on the nearby path, and turned my head to see who was coming. I rolled my eyes when I saw it was Gill. He approached, and as he opened his mouth to speak, I angrily shushed him, gesturing down at the sleeping Luke in my lap.

Gill snorted. "Humph. Like I care about if that retard gets his beauty sleep or not." He folded his arms over his chest. "So, are you two just friends that take naps on each other now?"

"Go away, Gill," I hissed.

He piped up again, talking louder. "You know, you're going to be sorry that you married him. I'm telling you, the kid is slow." He kept talking, but I tuned him out, scanning the nearby ground for something. I finally spotted a rock within reach, and I snatched it up in my fingers and hurled it at him. It hit him in the bare shin, right below his ugly plaid shorts.

"Owwwie!" he squealed in a high pitched voice. "Fine, I take back my concerns for you! You're crazy and you deserve to be with a retard!" He stuck his tongue out at me, then scurried away as I reached for another rock. I just smiled smugly at his retreating figure. I looked back down on Luke, who hadn't stirred a bit during all that. I watched him sleep, and my heart swelled with love for him. I didn't care if he wasn't smart, or if he acted silly most of the time. I had never had a truer friend in my life. When I was at my lowest point, practically starving to death, he was the one that saved me, and never asked for anything in return. He was real, and he loved me, and that was all that I cared about.

That night, when we got in bed, we began kissing, and before I knew it, we were both completely undressed. I was laying on my back, chest heaving with desire, and he was kneeling between my thighs. I started to reach forward and wrap my hand around him, but to my surprise, he took my hand and placed it on me. I blushed furiously. "W-what?" I whispered, even though I knew what he wanted.

"I wanna watch you touch yourself," he panted, his eyes glimmering and catlike.

I blushed even harder. "B-but...I can't do that..." I protested.

"Why not? Haven't you ever done it before?"

I averted my eyes, not answering right away. "Y-y-yeah, I've done it before..."

"Oh, really?" he asked, his voice full of curiosity.

"Well...yeah...before we were together..."

"Oh, that's hot! You gotta tell me about it."

I paused for a minute, then tentatively started touching myself lightly as I spoke. "I've always had a crush on you, Luke, ever since we met. After that time when you teased me in the hot springs...I...I..."

"You what?" he panted. I glanced down, and tingled with excitement when I saw that he was touching himself too.

"I...I came home and I did it three times in a row...thinking about you."

He groaned deeply, picking up the pace on himself. "Oh, damn! That's SO fucking hot!" He breathed hard, closing his eyes, then opened them again and kept watching me as I also increased the speed I was touching myself with. "I can't believe I didn't realize you were hot for me..." he moaned. I moaned as well, biting my lip. "So...what did you think about when you were doing it?" he asked me.

I squirmed, not wanting to tell him. "Well...I...imagined that you did stand up all the way, and you came towards me. I slid up onto the rocks...and...and..." I said nothing else, clsing my eyes and whimpering as I got closer to finish.

He groaned again. "Goddess, Angela, you gotta tell me!"

I struggled to speak, but continued. "You...moved in between...my thighs...and you...rubbed yourself on me..." I felt my face get hot at my own words.

"Oh, shit!" he cried, and suddenly his release shot out on me, splashing on my stomach and chest. I worked frantically at myself, incredibly turned on, and I threw my head back and screamed as I came as well.

He apologized, breathing hard, as he wiped off my stomach with a tissue. "Damn, I'm sorry. I always seem to be making a mess on you..."

I gazed up at him, my cheeks rosy with satisfaction. "It's okay...I kind of like it."

He stared down at me, his golden eyes getting wide. "Geez, Angela, that's hot too! You're so...you're so sexy, that I already want to do it again!" I just rolled my eyes happily as he moved down on me, kissing at my neck.


	10. Conflict

Chapter 10

The next day was the start of fall. I spent the whole day getting my fall crops planted and watered. The following day, after a quick watering of my field and checking on my chickens, I headed out to the pier to do some fishing, where I ran into Pascal.

"Hey there, missy!" he called out, fiddling with his pipe. "Winds have finally calmed down, so I'm making ferry trips to Toucan Island now." He eyed my fishing pole and continued. "Good fishing to be had there. Mahi mahi, manta rays, and all other sorts of fish."

I was enthused at the idea of such promising waters, so I boarded up on the next ferry, which was leaving in 15 minutes. I briefly considered the fact that I was leaving the island without telling Luke, but it wasn't like it was a long trip. I would be back that evening, so it should be fine.

As the boat bobbed over the seas, I encountered another person on the deck. She was tall, with long red hair and exotic features. She wore dancer's garb, and although she looked pretty unfriendly, I approached her nonetheless and introduced myself.

"Hi, I'm the new farmer on the island, Angela, and- "

She cut me off abruptly. "I know who you are," she said rather icily, and I was taken aback. What had I done to this girl? I didn't even know her. As the ferry docked, I discreetly inquired with Pascal as to her identity.

"That's Selena. She hails from Toucan Island, but she's been making the trip back and forth for some years now. Not as much lately, though. Not since last year." I mused this information, still clueless as to why she was so rude to me. Perhaps she just didn't like people. I then disembarked and set out to explore the island for the best fishing spot.

In my explorations, I found some pineapples growing in the wild, as well as all sorts of neat things washed up on the beach, including some coral and a black pearl. Coming to the island was turning out to be a very profitable idea! I finally ended up on a small dock overlooking a peaceful lagoon, and I sat down and started fishing. True to Pascal's word, the waters were brimming with fish for the catching. I caught 7 mahi mahi before the sun started to set. I went ahead and finished up, getting ready to take the ferry home. Pascal had told me that it left at sunset, so I wanted to get there ahead of time so as not to be left behind.

I waited on the dock as the sun dipped below the horizon, but the boat never came. It became dark outside, the only light illuminating the beach coming from the tiki torches lit along the coast. I started to become worried, and when I spotted a middle aged woman hauling up a crab net some distance down the shore, I hurried over to her.

"Ferry boat? It's already come and gone!" she replied, and my heart filled with confusion and worry. Pascal had said at sunset, and I was waiting long before sunset…did I misunderstand him? And how would I get home?

"Does the ferry boat ever dock somewhere else on the island?" I asked the woman, who had told me her name was Sue.

She shook her head. "No, just there on that dock. I don't think he'll be coming back…" She must have seen the panic in my eyes, because she spoke up comfortingly. "My husband Samson and I own the Pineapple Inn. We'll put you up for the night." I accepted gratefully, and as soon as we got inside, I inquired about a phone. They told me that they didn't have one, and my heart sank.

"My…my husband Luke will be so worried," I sighed.

I was startled to see both Sue and Samson freeze and then turn and look at me with curious eyes. I assumed that they were just surprised that someone as young as me was married, until Sue piped up.

"Did you say Luke? You're married to Luke?"

"Yes…we got married about a week ago…" I said apprehensively, wondering why this was so interesting to these people.

Sue and Samson looked at each other, then Samson clucked his tongue and shook his head. "Oy, mama, I wonder if our little Selena had something to do with the ferry leaving unexpectedly early today?"

"Ay, papa, I was worrying the same thing." I looked back and forth between the two of them, dying to be clued in on whatever they were talking about. Sue turned to me. "Did you meet our daughter Selena on the boat ride over today?"

I nodded. "Well, sort of…she was kind of rude to me, to be honest, and didn't even give me her name. The ship captain told me who she was later."

Sue sighed. "That sounds about right…anyway, well, I don't know how to put this…but Selena and Luke were boyfriend and girlfriend for about 3 years." My heart felt heavy at this revelation, which I admonished myself for. That was in the past…but still, it gnawed at me for some reason. I hadn't even known Luke for two full seasons, and now there was this girl who had dated him for six times that amount of time.

Samson spoke up. "Our Selena is quite a temperamental girl - great for her dancing, not so great for people that have to deal with her. I know both mama and I have gotten into terrible arguments with her. She's just one of those who likes to argue, it seems."

Sue nodded. "Well, Luke, that dear boy, as I'm sure you know, is a pretty easy going fellow. It was fine when they were younger, but as they became adults, her temper got even more fiery, and it's against his very nature to wallow in strife like Selena does. So, he finally told her it was over." Sue sighed as she folded some towels. "I don't think Selena ever got over him, though. They broke up about a year ago, and she's been sulking and hiding out here since then. She just started going back to your island two days ago."

My heart filled with anguish. Great. This was my worst nightmare. My husband of 5 days had an ex-girlfriend who was apparently still in love with him and vindictive enough to pull strings so that I was stranded on an island overnight with no way to contact him. Wonderful. My mind roiled with what Selena, who was surely in Waffle Town right now, was doing or was planning to do. My mouth went dry and I swallowed hard when I remembered how she had looked in her dancer's garb - sensual, feminine, and seductive - and then I glanced down at my own less feminine figure.

I ate the dinner they shared with me in a daze, my thoughts still consumed with worry. I slept fitfully, awakening several times and gazing out the window, longing for the sun to rise. When it finally did, I dressed hurriedly, thanked Samson and Sue copiously for their generosity, and went out to the dock to await the ferry.

It didn't arrive until 9 am, and I fished halfheartedly to pass the time. As soon as Pascal lowered the wooden ramp, I scurried over it. He beamed at me. "Well, did you enjoy your stay on the island?"

I gave a little laugh. "Well, it was certainly unexpected…Pascal, why did you leave early? I was at the dock before sunset, but you had already left."

He stared at me, uncomprehending. "Miss Selena told me that you were staying overnight, and that you said to go on ahead. Since you two would have been the only riders, I went ahead."

I shook my head. "I didn't want to stay...she must have gotten," I hesitated, "mixed up." Pascal apologized profusely, but I waved it aside, since it wasn't his fault. He quickly steered the ship for home, and I started to feel a little better as I saw the coast come up on the horizon.

I disembarked as quickly as I could, then rushed for home. I tumbled through the door, and a pitiful sight awaited me there. Luke was at the table, slumped forward, his head in his hands. As I came in, he looked up, his cheerful face uncharacteristically serious with worry. It dissipated into relief, and he jumped up as I stumbled forward, falling into his arms.

"What happened? I was so worried!" he breathed into my hair. "You never came home, and I looked everywhere; I called the Mayor, I called the Sundae Inn, but no one knew where you were. Pops and Bo looked in the forest, and Owen even went down in the mine and looked for you." He squeezed me tighter. "Where were you?"

"I rode the ferry to Toucan Island," I felt his body stiffen up at those two words. "I got stranded there, because someone told Pascal I was staying, and he left with the ferry early."

He gave a dark laugh, something I had never heard from him before. "Let me guess who that someone was. Selena?"

I looked up at him, nodding. He cursed under his breath, and I spoke. "Her parents put me up for the night and told me everything. About how you guys used to go out, but you broke it off and she never got over you."

He took a deep breath. "I knew something was wrong because when I was running around looking for you, I ran into her. She was all purring like a damn cat, and suddenly way too friendly." I shivered a little. Just like I had expected her to do.

"And what did you do?" I asked, a little afraid of the answer.

"I blew her ass off! I told her that I didn't have time to argue with her, my wife was missing! Of course, she got that old familiar mean ass look on her face, but I was already half gone." He inhaled sharply. "Damn, I always knew she was a crazy bitch! What the fuck?"

Still holding onto me, he moved over the the phone to tell everyone I was all right. His first call went to his dad. "Hey Pops, I found her...Stranded on Toucan Island." He gave a low laugh. "Yeah, how did you guess?" When he got off the phone, he muttered, "Even Pops knows how crazy Selena is...when I mentioned Toucan Island, his first thought was that she was involved." He proceeded to call the Mayor, Owen, and Sundae Inn. When he was done, we went and laid down on the bed together for a while, both just feeling relieved to be back together.

After a while though, he had to go to work. They had a big project at Brownie Ranch, and he needed to help his dad, or otherwise he would have just stayed home all day with me. He promised to return as soon as he could. I set to work on my farm, and a couple of hours passed. I guessed that Luke might be coming home for lunch soon, so I turned to go back in the house. As I did, I spotted Selena coming up the path from town, and I winced. Part of me wanted to tell her off for everything she had done, but a bigger part of me hated conflict. I hurried for the house and tried to get in before she could reach me, but those long dancer's legs were too swift for me.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't 'Mrs. Luke.'" She gave a dark laugh, and I shivered a little. "Don't go fooling yourself. Everyone in this town knows that Luke and I are meant to be together. You're just a fling; a little rebound thing to make himself feel better until he finally reconciles with me." I just stared up at her in horror. Why was she saying such awful things? I tried to convince myself that she was wrong, but her exotic almond shaped eyes bored into my brain, making me believe her. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes, and she laughed again. "Lovely! That's it, cry me a river, you ugly little thing. Go ahead and give up now while you still have some dignity left. Because I won't rest until he's mine again."

I struggled to speak. "Luke...loves me," I insisted, though my voice sounded weak and unsure.

"Oh, you believe that just because he tells you? That idiot would tell anyone that he loved them, as long as they were making him come." I flinched at her words, which she seemed to enjoy. "Oh yes, did you believe that you were his first? No, my dear, that honor belongs to me. His first...and his last. Don't you forget that." I stood frozen in place as she turned and departed, her hips swaying from side to side triumphantly, but I was shaken to reality all of the sudden, and I bounded down the path after her.

"Hey! Hey!" I shouted at her until she finally turned around. She had a slightly bemused look on her face, but she waited for me to speak. "You...you're the one who should give up now. You're making a fool of yourself, you know. Luke doesn't care about you anymore."

Selena laughed. "Oh please. He will always care for me. Much more than he could ever care for you, you ugly little thing. I mean, look. You're supposedly married, but where is your wedding ring?" I looked down at my hands in instinct, but of course there was no ring there. "That's right, no ring. It's because he knows you're just temporary. Now, the wedding ring he buys for me will be just glorious..."

Indignation broiled up in me. "He doesn't like you any more!" I remembered something he had said, and blurted it out as well. "He said you're a crazy bitch!"

Hatred flared up in Selena's eyes, and before I could react, her hand had made contact with my face, hard. I reeled for a moment, in shock from the pain of the unexpected slap. I lost my balance and tumbled backwards into the dirt. My hand flew up to my cheek, and I could feel wetness there. I drew my hand away and stared at the blood on my fingertips. I glanced up at Selena, who was seething at me, and noted the many rings on her fingers, one of which must have cut my cheek.

"Don't you ever fucking call me crazy!" she hissed, her eyes wild with anger. I scooted away a little in the grass, and tried to stand. As I did, I saw Luke walking down the path with a concerned look on his face. When he saw me on the ground, he broke out into a run.

"What the hell is going on?" he yelled as he charged forward. Selena tried to play innocent, but Luke saw the scrape on my cheek as well as the redness starting to spread there.

"She...she slapped me," I whispered as he helped me to my feet, tears forming in my eyes once again. Luke wrapped his arms around me, and murmured comforting things to me. When he spoke again, his voice was more audible, and it was directed to Serena. He did not look at her as he spoke in a colder tone that I had ever heard him speak.

"Selena...any feelings I had left for you as a friend are now totally gone. You've so crossed the line. I don't wanna ever see your face again. Do you hear me? Never again." I could see her as she recoiled at his words, then turned down the path and fled.

Luke took me to the clinic and had them check out the scrape on my face just in case, and then we went home. Once the door was closed behind us, I burst out into tears. Luke came forward. "Oh, honey, it's okay. C'mere." He wrapped his arms around me, and I told him everything Selena had said to me. He sighed heavily.

"She's so wrong," he said. "We were just kids...and besides, she didn't even seem to like me all that much back then! It's amazing that she's trying to act like she cares so much now, because all she was ever doing was trying to change me. Always telling me to calm down and shut up, and acting irritated at every little thing I did. Honestly, I did us both a favor when I broke up with her. She doesn't want to me with a guy like me, and I definitely don't want to be with a mean girl like her." We sat down on the bed, and he sighed again. "And about the other stuff; don't worry about any of that. It's totally in the past."

I fidgeted a little, playing with my hands. "So...did you...did you really...?"

He rolled his eyes, getting my meaning. "Unfortunately." I made a little grimace, and he hastened to continue. "But, but, it wasn't anything like this! It didn't even happen all that much, and when it did, it was mostly just her yelling at me for doing everything wrong. She called me 'you idiot' way more than she ever called me by my name." He looked at me, his golden eyes getting slightly serious. "You know, that's one of the, like, million things I love about you, Angela. You always treat me so good. Everyone else on this island, it's always 'dumb ol' Luke' this and 'stupid Luke' that. 'Don't let Luke play with us, he'll mess everything up!' It's lame as hell to be treated like the village idiot all the time. But you, you never treat me like I'm dumb."

I spoke up softly. "Well, you're not dumb...I think everyone mistakes your enthusiasm and cheerfulness for goofiness."

He grinned. "Yeah, I guess that's it. I don't hate anybody for it, I just wish that for once they would give me a chance. That's what's so awesome about you...you were new to the island, and you just got to know me for me, and not as 'dumb Luke.'" He touched my hand, stroking it lightly, and I looked down on the ringless finger, wincing a little when I remembered Selena's words. As if he read my mind, he piped up. "Oh yeah, and about wedding rings...I was gonna surprise you with that for your birthday in winter, but you know what? We can go tomorrow and have Mira make us some." He grabbed my hand and looked into my eyes. "You know that I don't think you're temporary, right? Today, tomorrow, ten years from now, I'm still gonna love you. Even 100 years from now!" The earnest look on his face melted my heart, and I gave him a grateful smile, leaning in for a kiss.


	11. Adventure

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who writes reviews! That's what keeps me writing. I feed on praise, so keep it coming. The more reviews, the more inspired I am to write.

Chapter 11

That night, I made Luke a spinach quiche for dinner, which he devoured. With mayonnaise on top, of course. I took a shower, happy to wash the past two days off of myself, and changed into some nice clean pajamas. The weather had started to turn cooler, and I noticed that even Luke, who usually slept in his boxers, had finally unpacked his clothes for cold weather, including his pajamas.

I smiled lovingly at him as he buttoned them up. They were blue, almost the exact same shade as his hair. "That must be your favorite color, huh?" I asked.

"Yeah," he grinned. "Is that your favorite color?" He gestured at my light green pajamas, which I had never worn before.

"I guess so," I replied. I realized that I had a lot of clothes in that shade of green, including the hooded pullover I wore pretty constantly through the spring and summer. I had never really thought about what my favorite color was, but I guess that for clothes, light green was it. But as I thought about it, gazing into Luke's eyes as he got closer and closer...I finished the rest of my thought aloud.

"Green's nice, but gold is better. Like your eyes," I explained, my voice being cut off my him layering his mouth over mine. He eased me back onto the bed, his hands working to unbutton my pajama top. His passion was pretty overpowering, and he picked up the pace, pulling my pajama bottoms down as soon as he had thrown the top aside. I wondered for a moment what had him so worked up, but then I remembered that since we had been separated last night, we had gone two days without making love. Even though we had only been doing it for a week, we had gotten into a nice pattern of two or three times a day, so this was a big deal.

I just moaned happily into his kiss, feeling pretty turned on myself. I dropped my hands to his chest, unworking the buttons there and pushing the garment back on his shoulders. He shrugged it off and tugged off his own pajama bottoms, never once breaking away from the kiss. I raked my nails up and down his bare back lightly, and groaned as he pushed himself inside of me. He brought his mouth away from mine then, so that he could groan as well, and also so that he could pull up and look down at where we were joined. He got a naughty smile on his face, obviously enjoying what he was seeing. I blushed, and then he came back down to meet me.

We kissed again, and he moved his lips down my neck, then up to my ear, where he breathed heavily. I squirmed underneath him, feeling myself get worked up. He was obviously drowning in lust as well, for he had to stop his movements several times, groaning that he didn't want to come just yet. I was extremely close myself, hovering on the brink of ecstasy, and I wrapped my thighs around his hips, urging him in close to me. Once he was inside of me fully, I thrashed against him, and began to cry out as I climaxed. He gave a low groan, and I could feel him releasing inside of me, which just propelled my orgasm to a higher level. I screamed out louder with pleasure, and as I came down from my high, I was almost sobbing with intense satisfaction.

Luke relaxed his body down onto mine, and we lay together, breathing hard and trembling. After a few moments, he pulled up onto his forearms and looked me in the eyes. "Is it that good? Really?" he asked meekly.

"Oh, Goddess, yes," I groaned, pressing the back of my hand to my forehead and closing my eyes. "It's...it's...I can't even describe it. But it's beyond good."

His golden eyes sparkled, and he smiled happily. "I'm glad," he whispered, relaxing back down on me. He stayed inside of me the whole time, though I could feel his hardness lessening as the minutes passed. I stroked at his back, and he kissed lightly at my neck. Before I knew what was happening, we were kissing passionately once more, and I felt his manhood swell and harden inside of me. I thrust my hips up at him, delighted that he was ready again so soon, and already craving another release.

I could feel my passion building up, and I tensed underneath him, angling myself just right so that he was hitting me perfectly. I groaned and clutched at his back, feeling close to the edge. He thrust more furiously into me, then cried out. "Oh! Oh no...I'm sorry! Ah!" I could feel him releasing inside of me, and his movements stilled, but he was still groaning in both satisfaction and regret. "I'm sorry...I came too soon...you didn't get to..." he panted.

"Flip over...like this," I said, and I urged him to sit up, and I sat up as well. He was on his knees, and I was straddled across his lap, him still inside of me. I placed my small hands on his chest and pushed him backwards so that I was on top of him. I felt a little like a circus performer for being able to pull off that maneuver so effortlessly. I wasn't even sure how I knew how to do that! I turned my attention back to our coupling, and I ground against him furiously. I felt that familiar pleasurable sensation surge through me, and I cried out as I began to come. The orgasm seemed to go on forever, and he groaned with satisfaction beneath me as I thrashed frenetically, then collapsed down onto his chest.

I pressed my face into him, feeling his heart pounding as I breathed heavily. "Wow...just...wow," he whispered, stroking his hand up and down my back.

"Uh huh," I responded, feeling exhausted all of the sudden. We pulled apart carefully, cleaned up, and redressed. We snuggled under the covers together. "Phew," I sighed. "I'm going to sleep GOOD tonight." Luke just started snoring, and I smiled at how quickly he was able to fall asleep. I fell asleep soon after.

The next day, true to his word, as soon as he was finished with work, we went to Ramsey's blacksmith shop. Owen greeted us as we came in. "Boy, was I glad to hear you were okay!" he boomed in his deep brogue. "I was down in that mine looking for you half the night!"

"I'm sorry," I said, but he waved it away.

"No, it wasn't a big deal. Found quite a bit of useful ore while I was hammering around for portals to go lower, so it wasn't a waste. Just glad you're all right." I nodded, and then Luke and I moved forward to Mira's accessory counter.

"We wanna get wedding rings!" Luke proudly announced, and Mira smiled softly. I felt a little bad suddenly, remembering that she was recently widowed, but she showed no signs of sadness at having to talk about wedding rings. She showed us some examples of styles, explaining as she went along the merits of each.

"Well, I know what I want," I said, pointing to a simple, narrow band of gold. It was the same color as Luke's eyes, and it glimmered up at me enticingly. Mira nodded, taking it out of the case. Miraculously, it fit me perfectly, so we wouldn't have to wait to get one made. We could just buy the display ring, which was more than fine with me. Although I didn't like to admit it, Selena's cruel words had cut me to the bone, and I wanted Luke's ring on my finger as soon as possible, if only to prove in some silly way that I was really his.

Luke continued to peruse the rings, finally selecting a wide band of silver. "But, like, can I get flames carved into it?" he asked Mira. I started to protest, but bit my lip. Sure, it was unusual to have flames engraved onto a wedding ring, but when I thought about it, it was totally something Luke would do. So why not? I just nodded enthusiastically when Mira looked at me doubtfully. She agreed to it, and told us to return in two days, when she would have the engraving done.

Luke and I left happy. He took my hand, admiring the delicate ring there. "It's pretty," he said quietly. I smiled back at him, and then we turned back as we heard Owen calling to us.

"Hey! I forgot to tell you, the path to Mt. Gelato is now open. I busted the rock blocking the road with my hammer. But I noticed a lot more rocks and branches blocking the path going further, so if you want to go, you'd better go prepared."

Luke and I looked at each other. "It sounds like an adventure," I said. "Want to go?"

Luke cheered. "Hell yeah!" We hurried home, him getting his axe and me getting my hammer. We then ran up the path the Mt. Gelato, holding hands the whole way. After we passed under the huge root that had previously been overlapped by a giant rock, we gazed around admiringly at the scenery. Mt. Gelato was absolutely beautiful. "Man, I haven't been here since I was a little kid," Luke breathed, stepping forward into the lush grass. A raccoon scurried out from behind a tree, looking over at us suspiciously. "Look at that bad ass raccoon!" Luke yelled, and the raccoon ran away. I bit my lip, remembering the photo of Luke wrestling with a raccoon. The word was probably out in the raccoon community that Luke was not to be trusted. I began giggling, but Luke paid no mind, already chasing after a white weasel he saw sneaking around nearby.

He returned to me a few minutes later, panting. "Damn, that weasel was fast!" I laughed, and took his hand as we headed up the slope to the mountain. Our way was blocked by two large trees flanking an enormous boulder. "Okay, I'll take care of this," Luke said, gripping his axe. He lined himself up with the trunk of one tree, and swung powerfully at it. His sharp axe bit into the bark with skill, and within three minutes, the tree was heaving sideways as it fell. "Timber!" Luke yelled, then stepped back, breathing heavily.

I admired him. "Wow, that was pretty amazing," I said, impressed by his talent. I was also impressed with the way his muscles had flexed as he moved, and by the thin layer of sweat that now sheened his skin. Impressed, and turned on.

I shook myself, trying to concentrate on the task before us. I thought that I might have to break the boulder with my hammer, but we were able to slip by in the space created by the fallen tree. We continued up the steep path, carefully crossing a log bridge. I was afraid that I was going to fall, but Luke held my hand and didn't let go as we crossed, and I made it safely over.

Once past that, we gazed up at the path ahead. "Ah!" Luke cried out, pointing. "Up that way is the Harvest Goddess spring. I remember. I've been there with my mom before." I nodded, and we headed that way.

Suddenly, I heard a low rumbling. Fearing some kind of avalanche or rockslide, I froze in my tracks. But my attention was soon drawn to a nearby cave. A large brown bear was coming out, apparently a mother bear, I deduced from the cub following her closely. I wasn't afraid initially, but the bear came closer, baring her teeth and growling at us. I squeaked out in fear, and Luke grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me down the path, away from the bear.

Once we were a distance away, we leaned up against the slope wall. "What the junk? A bear?" Luke exclaimed, and I burst out into fierce giggles.

"Did...did you just say 'what the junk?'" I asked, tittering madly.

He furrowed his brow. "No! I didn't say 'what the junk!'"

I laughed harder. "You did! You said 'what the junk!'"

Luke pouted a little. "Okay, maybe I did! But I was all confused and stuff from the bear. And what's so funny about it, anyway?"

I finally caught my breath, slowing down my laughing. "I don't know. It just struck me as funny. I've never heard anyone say that before."

Luke bit his lip. "Okay, I gotta admit something. I'm like, afraid of bears. I don't know why, but I just am."

"Well, right now, I'm pretty afraid of bears too!" I shrieked, as I heard the mother bear growling from up the path. We hastened down the path, further away. As Luke walked in front of me, my attention was focused on the decal on the back of his vest. It was the face of a bear.

"Hey, Luke, why do you have a bear on your back if you're afraid of them?"

"Because! I don't have to look at it if it's on my back! And I figure if they scare me, then they must be pretty bad ass, so they'll scare other people. Or something." He scratched his head as he tried to explain, and I just smiled gently at him.

"Well, I think it does look pretty 'bad ass'," I said encouragingly, trying not to laugh.

"For real?" Luke said. "Aw, you're awesome, Angela," he crowed, turning on me and hugging me tightly. I relaxed into his arms, smelling the pine scent coming from his shirt. "Okay, I think our adventure is done for today," he sighed. I agreed, and we headed down the rest of the path.

I tugged him over to the side when I saw something sparkling in the sunlight. It was some sort of bamboo shoot that seemed to glow. There were more scattered around the area, and I scurried about, gathering them up. Luke wrinkled up his nose. "Blech! I hate, hate, hate, bamboo shoots. Especially shiny ones like those."

I looked at him, wide eyed. There weren't too many things that he said he hated. "But why?" I asked.

He scratched his head, thinking. "I don't really know...oh yeah, wait! Okay, my mom and I used to come here all the time. Remember when I told you that she was a bad cook? Well, she gathered some of those while we were here, then tried to cook them for me and my dad when we got home. But she didn't know how to prepare them correctly, so it was like chewing on wood. Really, really bad. Whenever I taste bamboo now, even when it's done right, I remember that. Just chewing and chewing for like, hours! It was awful! My dad finally told me I could spit it out, but the taste was in my mouth for days." He shivered.

"Ew, that's pretty gross," I commiserated. "Well, I'll just sell them, how about that?"

He nodded in relief. "And we can have spinach for dinner instead!" he proclaimed happily.

"Yes, we can," I assured him, lacing my fingers into his as we headed for home.


	12. Building

Author's Note: I edited this chapter slightly to change it from brushing a cow to watering plants as what Angela was doing when she was watching Luke. She can't have a cow; she doesn't have a barn!

Also, I got one recent question about whether or not she was pregnant; I get this question a lot in all my stories. The answer is always emphatically no. I do not write pregnancies, babies, or children into any of my stories. Sometimes I explain that the characters are using birth control, sometimes I don't. In the case of these two, maybe one of them is sterile. I don't know, I don't care. They are fictional, so it doesn't matter. Here's my public service announcement, though: Hey kids! If you have unprotected sex like these two, you WILL get pregnant. So don't do it! Talk to your doctor about the pill and other birth control options! Thank you. Anyway, ahem, I know the next question is _why _don't I ever do pregnancy. Well, I'm a woman who's been married for almost 7 years, and I have no children. I don't like children. I _especially _do not like newborn babies. I don't think they bring a couple closer together, I think they drive them apart and ruin all the hot sex. That's just my personal opinion, and it's what I've personally witnessed in all the couples I know. Obviously, it's a good thing that everyone doesn't think that way, or the human race would die out. But you know, I think the other 6 billion people on earth will more than pick up my slack for not procreating. So, I will never write my couples having babies. Be disappointed if you want, but...don't you want them to keep having hot lemon? Yes? Then don't worry about babies. LOL. Again, thanks for reading, everyone, and keep the reviews coming!

Chapter 12

The next day, Luke proudly announced that he would be building an addition onto our house. This was a good thing, considering the cramped quarters the two of us had been living in. I was fine with it for the most part, since I didn't care if we were forced close together, for obvious reasons, but still, it would be more sensible to have more room.

He departed to get prepared, while I did my farm chores. He returned with his father and Bo, as well as a large load of lumber. They set to work, building onto the house from the kitchen side. They would build a framework first, enclose it, then knock down the old wall. That was a relief to me, because for some reason, I thought that they would just cut the wall off, and build onto that. I didn't want my house open up to the elements!

I had to admit that, as usual, I was turned on by watching Luke work. I watered my crops absentmindedly as I watched him work from the field. I tried not to openly ogle, but it was hard. He was just so sexy looking. Every muscle in his body rippled with each movement he made, and when he started sweating in the midday sun and paused to strip off his shirt, I thought I would lose it. I gazed, open mouthed, across the distance at the sight of his perfect body. The can lurched forward hopelessly, trickling water out all over my shoes, and I didn't even care. Even though I got to see it all I wanted, I could never get enough. I swallowed hard, feeling myself getting very aroused.

Then I got a cold splash of water to my arousal in the form of Dale suddenly stepping in front of Luke, blocking my view of him, and to my horror, stripping his own shirt off. I almost dry heaved at the sight of his enormous belly and saggy man boobs. I turned my focus back on my watering, tilting the can back up. I shivered a little, and vowed to secretly restrict Luke's mayonnaise consumption in some way. There was no way I was letting him turn into that!

The three of them were quite a team, working in unison. The whole project would take two days, but even by the finish of the first day, it looked pretty impressive. The addition was almost complete on the outside. They would just need to knock down the wall inside and do cleanup and finishing touches the following day. There were already tools and supplies spread out inside the house in preparation for the next day, and I had to be careful stepping over them.

Since my kitchen would be off limits for most of tomorrow, I went ahead and made us some box lunches for the next day as I was cooking dinner. I had finished with the lunches and set a pot of rice on the stove to steam it when Luke stepped in the house. He grinned at me, then came over and swept me off my feet, twirling me around. He placed me back on the ground gently, and I smiled up into his face, tilting my head back for a kiss.

When he pulled out of the kiss, his eyes were twinkling down on me. "Heh…I saw you staring at me today."

I felt my face get hot. "D-did you?" I wondered if he had also seen me be disgusted by his father's body. Apparently not, and that part was soon gone from my mind; because his hands started wandering all over me.

"Yeah…I like when you stare at me like that. It's hot as hell," he whispered in my ear, and I trembled, my knees threatening to buckle out under me as he rubbed at me through the outside of my pants. I clung onto the front of his shirt, whimpering with pleasure. His hands went to my waistband, undoing the fixtures there, and then he slid my pants as well as my panties all the way off. I stepped out of them, feeling a little vulnerable and embarrassed.

Luke pushed me up against the wall, kissing me deeply as he unworked his own pants. He slid them just far enough down on his hips to free his hardness, then he moved in closer to me. He urged me to place one leg around his waist, and then rubbed his length teasingly against the outside of my wetness. I wanted him inside of me right then, so I pleaded, "Oh please, Luke, I want you…" He gave a pleased groan and plunged in, thrusting against me.

We both moaned happily and rocked against each other, enjoying the feeling. Although I was mostly focused on him, I kept an eye out for the rice that I was cooking, so that it didn't boil over. My attention was drawn back to him as he hammered me into the wall. I cried out in pleasure. The sensation was just amazing, and the different angle made me feel new things. I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned my forehead to press on his shoulder as I clenched myself around him.

"Luke...I'm..." The rest of my sentence crescendoed into a loud moaning, which Luke matched for volume as he groaned, releasing inside of me. We both continued to make loud sounds of pleasure as I tilted my head up, fluttering my eyes open to conscientiously check on the pot of rice. My eyes focused much more quickly on the door, which was opening right then. My moan of pleasure turned into a scream as Dale walked in, carrying some more supplies. Luke looked at me, surprised, then whipped his head to look over his shoulder.

"Hey, Pops, we're kinda busy," he panted, totally calm. My eyes were wide open with shock and embarrassment, and I stared as Dale, who seemed completely stunned by the scene in front of him, turned around and walked out.

My heart was pounding, and my whole body was shaking with humiliation. As we carefully broke apart, I pulled my pants on as quickly as I could, too embarrassed to look at Luke. I could feel my whole face burning very hotly as Luke gripped me by my shoulders, turning me towards him. "Hey...it's okay. It's not like he's never done that before. I mean, he made me after all, believe it or not."

My face continued to burn. "It's still completely mortifying! Oh, Goddess, Luke," I groaned as I slapped a hand to cover my face. "I will never, ever be able to face your father again."

He grinned carelessly. "Yeah you will. You two will act all awkward around each other for a while, but it'll be forgotten eventually." Deep down, I knew he was right, but it still didn't erase the acute distress I felt at that moment. Luke fixed his pants nonchalantly and whistled, turning his attention to the stove. "What's for dinner?" he asked cheerfully. I just rolled my eyes and how lightly he took life, but I realized, maybe that was the best way, after all. Most of the stress and drama in people's lives, they created themselves. Luke was totally drama-free (if you didn't count the whole Selena thing) because he refused to fall into that trap.

So, I forced myself to smile. "Fried rice," I answered, lifting up the lid to show him the steamed rice. He opened his mouth to say something, and I answered before he could ask. "No, it doesn't have spinach in it, and I'm not going to add spinach, because it wouldn't be good. We'll have to have a spinach free night. Are you going to survive?" He nodded and laughed, and I laughed too.

The next day, the carpenter crew returned to finish the job. I still couldn't bring myself to make eye contact with Dale, and I decided to take my fishing pole and head all the way south to the beach so that I wouldn't have to face him that day. I returned home when they were finished, and I admired the work they had done. After we had eaten dinner, Luke piped up. "Let's go to the hot springs. I'm like, mega sore from all that work." I agreed, and went to get my bathing suit. "Oh, no you don't," Luke admonished. "Remember what I told you? Natives go naked in the hot springs."

"I'm not a native," I mumbled.

"Well, you're married to one, and I won't let you wear that touristy bathing suit in there. C'mon, let's go!" he exclaimed, and I grabbed some towels on the way out. We reached the summit of Caramel Falls, and went behind the screen together. I giggled a little, remembering how embarrassed, confused, and aroused I had been when he had undressed here on the first day of summer. As usual, he was totally naked before I even had a few buttons undone, and he wrapped a towel around his waist. He hurried out to the water, and I finished undressing, then wrapped a towel around my whole body.

I timidly peeked out from behind the screen, then carefully stepped over the rocks to the spring. "Come on, Angela, it's cool," Luke assured me. I slipped into the water, still wearing the towel. Luke grinned across at me as he pulled his own towel out from under the water and laid the sopping wet cloth on the rocks. "Now I'm naked," he teased me. Even though he was my husband, I couldn't help but blush, because I could remember quite vividly the last time we were at the springs. "Go ahead, take your towel off too," Luke urged me.

"N-no!" I stammered, still feeling unsure. I looked around into the semi-darkness of early evening. "Somebody might be around."

"Oh, hardly anyone uses these hot springs any more, especially not in the fall," he assured me.

"Are you sure?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. "I have a feeling your dad is going to come prancing up that path at any time." Luke roared with laughter, but continued to try to convince me that it was safe. I hesitated; but finally, my hands trembling violently, I removed my towel, lifting it out of the water. I then slumped and sunk in as deep as I could, my arms crossed over my chest defensively.

"Aw, you gotta relax, Angela, or the hot springs are no good!" Luke admonished, moving closer to me. He reached behind me, kneading at my shoulders gently. "Relax! You're all tense and stuff!" His hands felt heavenly, and I finally did relax, my muscles seemingly melting into the water. I moaned in pleasure, and Luke brought his lips close to my ear. "Ooh, I like to hear you moan..." he whispered there, and I trembled, this time out of arousal and not out of trepidation.

His hands slipped under the water, and he caressed my breasts gently. My head bobbed forward, and I closed my eyes, moaning softly. He traced his fingertips down between my legs, and began to touch me there with one hand. He kissed and nibbled at my neck and earlobes, and I sighed in delight. He then moved around to the front of me, and continued his ministrations from there. I took the opportunity to reach forward and grab for him. As I expected, he was already totally hard. I twisted and flexed my wrist as I stroked at him in an erratic pattern. He groaned, catching my lips for a deep kiss. We twirled our tongues together as we touched each other, and I could feel myself getting close.

I broke away from the kiss, then bit at my lip. "Oh, don't stop doing that, Luke..." I pleaded desperately, tilting my hips forward to him. He continued to do exactly what I needed, and within a few moments I was crying out, leaning forward into him and shuddering hard. I whispered his name over and over as I recovered, then I realized that he was still unsatisfied, and I began to stroke more rapidly at his length. He shut his eyes tightly, concentrating hard, and then he cried out in ecstasy as he climaxed.

His release came out under the water, and I worried for a moment. "Oh, ew, we've messed up the water."

He panted in satisfaction, then shrugged his shoulders carelessly. "Ah, big deal. I've been messing up this water for like, 6 years."

I stared at him, unbelieving. "You mean...?"

He nodded, grinning widely, as if he was proud of himself. "Yup."

I squealed. "That's yucky! No wonder no one uses the hot springs anymore! It's like...being in Luke soup."

He laughed at that. "Naw, it's cool. It dissolves into the water and stuff, right?"

"I don't know about that...anyway...ew, Luke! Don't do that anymore, okay?"

He looked at me with wide, innocent eyes. "Well, of course not! I don't have to do that anymore, anyway. I have you now..." he wrapped his arms around me, nuzzling his face into my neck.

I laughed. "So now, instead of making a mess in the hot springs, you make a mess out of me, right?"

"Uh huh," he replied, kissing my shoulder. Even though a normal girl would probably have been grossed out, I sighed happily. That was my silly Luke.


	13. Island

Chapter 13

My whole body was awash in delicious feelings. I laid back on the bed, sighing happily. "Mmmm…Luke, that feels good…" I moaned, reaching down to run my fingers through his hair as he pleasured me.

He pulled his face up to look at me. "Does it?" he asked, his voice lower than usual. I looked at him in surprise, and gasped when I saw the facial hair he was suddenly sporting.

"Luke! You have a mustache!"

"Do I?" He reared back up on his knees, and I screamed when I saw his huge belly. He just grinned at me, patting his stomach. "What's wrong, honey? Don't you think I'm sexy?" I just kept screaming as he pulled out a bottle of mayonnaise and started to open it. He was just about to squeeze it all over me when I woke up with a start.

I clapped a hand to my sweating face. What the hell was that about? I glanced quickly over at Luke, who was sleeping soundly. I peered at him in the darkness to make sure he didn't have a mustache. I sighed with relief, then just to be sure, I slid my hands under the covers, feeling at his stomach. It was flat, which was also a relief to me.

I had thought he was deep asleep, so it surprised me when he suddenly grabbed my wrist. He moved my hand down lower, where he was hard, not surprisingly. Luke was almost always hard. I looked into his face, and he had cracked open his eyes, which were glittering at me in the darkness. "Would you...?" he trailed off, gesturing down with his head. I nodded, smiling happily, and as I pulled the covers back and moved down, he tugged down his pajama pants.

I wrapped one hand around him, and lowered my head slowly. He groaned in anticipation as I brought my mouth close, letting him feel my hot breath on it. I then kissed him; light fluttering movements of my lips against his firm flesh. He moaned with pleasurable frustration, his hands working furiously at the sheets, grabbing great handfuls of cloth. He pushed his hips up at me, trying to get me to do more. So I complied, parting my lips and letting my tongue creep out. I traced the tip of it up and down his skin, making him whine with desire.

Finally, after some teasing, I took him into my mouth. He cried out in delight and relief. Luke was a very direct person, and he didn't like teasing or waiting. That was more than evident in the fact that we had married on a whim! I slid my mouth further down, then twirled my tongue around and around him. He groaned with pleasure, rocking his hips lightly against my mouth. I brought my lips up to the tip and sucked lightly, then with more force. I wasn't really sure what I was doing, but I did my best.

It was obviously more than enough, because within just a few moments, he was crying out, bucking his hips erratically. I felt his release pulse into my mouth. The last time I had done it to him, he had released far back in my mouth, and I had swallowed in surprise before I could even taste it. But this time, it was all over my tongue, and I swallowed with a grimace. It wasn't that it tasted bad, it was just that it had a very distinct flavor.

I sat up on my knees, looking at him as he writhed with satisfaction on the bed. "Luke. You taste like mayonnaise."

"Huh?" I could barely make out his face in the dim light, but he looked confused.

"You...taste like mayonnaise. You," I pointed down at his manhood, trying to get my point across without having to say the actual words.

I could just make out a grin on his face. "That's kind of bad ass."

"No, it is not 'bad ass.' It means that you eat way too much mayonnaise!" I giggled. "You should try to eat less...remember, you don't want to end up looking like your dad..." I shuddered as I remembered my nightmare.

"Are you cold, honey?" he asked me. I shook my head, laying back down with him.

"No, I had a nightmare, and I was just remembering it," I admitted reluctantly.

"About what?" he asked, pulling me in and kissing the top of my head.

I hesitated, but I figured I ought to tell him. "You...had a mustache like your dad, and a big belly too, and you were putting mayonnaise all over me so that you could eat me up."

Laughter rocked his body. "Aw, that's funny as hell!"

I pouted. "It wasn't funny to me."

He kissed the top of my head again. "What, are you afraid I'm gonna get all fat like my dad and then try to love on you all gross?" I hesitated, but slowly nodded. He laughed hard again. "I promise you, I'm not gonna get fat. Even I ever start gaining a little weight, I can catch it right away. I won't let myself get all gone like Pops." He sighed. "He just doesn't care anymore because he doesn't have Mom. He doesn't have anyone to look good for, so..." He snuggled in closer to me. "But I want to look good for you...you know?" I nodded, feeling the same way.

"Now, let's go back to sleep..." he murmured, and I cuddled up to him. Within moments, he was snoring, and I fell asleep soon after.

When we woke up later that Saturday morning, we pondered over what to do with the day. Luke was all for staying in and "doing it all day long," but I assured him that even _we _couldn't physically do it all day long, even if we tried. He admitted that it was probably true, and we continued thinking.

"Hey! Wanna go to Toucan Island?" Luke asked cheerfully.

I just stared at him, then slowly shook my head. "I don't feel like getting stranded, or getting slapped."

He gaped, then grinned. "Naw, it'll be cool. I'll be with you the whole time." He frowned a little, apparently remembering Selena's antics. His face cleared up, and he smiled once more at me. "But we don't have to go if you don't want to. I just haven't been in a long time. It'll be fun!"

I finally agreed, and we set out. I took my fishing pole, and we decided against packing a lunch, since we could eat at the Pineapple Inn. We stepped onto the dock, and Pascal was there, waiting for some passengers to ferry. He was glad to receive us, and we boarded the boat. The ride didn't take very long, and we were soon there.

Sue was at the shore, throwing out her crab net. She raised her hand to shield the sun out of her eyes, watching us as we got off the boat. "Well, if it isn't Luke!" she cried, sounding happy. She rushed forward, giving him a big hug. She patted my arm fondly as well, and ushered us towards the inn. "Papa will be so happy to see you," she cooed to Luke. Obviously, these two still liked their daughter's ex boyfriend despite the fact that he was with another woman!

We went into the cool, dark lobby of the inn, and Samson looked up from the front desk. "Why, hello there, stranger!" he boomed, engulfing Luke in a bear hug. "And our little castaway, too," he teased, hugging me as well.

I looked around nervously, and Sue read my meaning right away. "Oh, don't worry, Selena's not here. She's actually gone off to the mainland. She got a offer from a big dancing troupe, and joined up with them. She left yesterday." I sighed in relief, trying not to be too obvious about it. "So, what brings you two here today?" she asked us.

"Just wanna relax and stuff," Luke said. "She's gonna fish, I'm probably just gonna sleep."

"Oh Luke, you're the same as ever," Sue beamed affectionately at him. "So laid back. A true islander!" Luke just grinned, and then Sue clapped her hands. "Luke! Do you still like bananas?"

"Hell yeah!" Luke cheered.

Sue nodded happily. "We've got a ton growing here now. Pick and eat all you want from the trees outside."

"Bad ass!" Luke yelled, charging outside. I smiled sheepishly at his unbridled enthusiasm, but Sue and Samson were unfazed. I guessed that they were used to him, after all. I followed him outside, where he had managed to scurry up into a tall banana tree, and was working furiously to dislodge a banana bunch there.

I smiled up at him, shielding the sun from my eyes with my hand. "I didn't even know you liked bananas!"

"Well, you can't usually get them on Waffle Island, so I haven't had any in a while - Timber!" he yelled as the banana bunch fell. "But yeah, I freaking love bananas. Oooh, honey," he scurried back down the tree and came over to me, grabbing me by the shoulders. "Do you think you can make me some banana pudding when we get home?" I nodded, and he pumped his arm in excitement. "Aw, hell yeah! That's so awesome!" He kissed me quickly. "I love you, honey. You're the best wife in the world." I trembled a little with happiness as he let me go, going to pick up the fallen bananas.

Luke carried the bunch with him, following me as I headed over to the lagoon. He ate two right away as I cast out into the shimmering aquamarine waters. When I glanced back him later after I caught my first fish, I smiled warmly when I saw that he was already asleep, sprawled out haphazardly in the shade. Banana peels were scattered around him, and it was quite a sight.

After a couple of hours, I shook him awake, and we headed up to the inn for lunch. I presented Sue and Samson with two of the nicer mahi mahi I had caught. They accepted them graciously, and Samson grilled them up with pineapple slices for us all to enjoy for lunch. Sue smiled broadly as she set a bottle of mayonnaise in front of Luke, obviously remembering what he liked. Luke reached for it, then glanced at me and bit his lip. I made an accepting gesture, and he grinned, but only squeezed a moderate amount on his food instead of slathering it all over everything. It was a start, at least!

After lunch, we walked around the island for a while. We ended up on the north end of the island, in a dense grove of tropical growth. Luke plopped himself down in the lush carpet of grass, and I sat down next to him. "Now...we're all alone," he whispered mischievously, leaning in and kissing at my neck.

"Luke!" I squealed, squirming away. "Not out in public!"

He just grinned at me lazily. "Silly Angela. The woods is not public. I told you that before." He moved closer to me, caressing my body gently with his hands as he caught my mouth for a kiss. He parted his lips, then I parted mine, letting him slip his tongue inside my mouth. I moaned into the kiss as he squeezed lightly at one breast, then slipped his hand under my shirt. I let my body relax as he touched me. I tensed up a little when I felt his hands on my waistband, undoing the buttons there, then tugging off my pants.

"Luke..." I tried to protest in vain, but our desire was too overwhelming, and soon he had my panties off as well.

He grinned at me. "I owe you one," he whispered, and I caught his meaning as he lowered his head between my thighs. He flicked his tongue out at my already wet flesh. "Mmm...Angela, you taste so good," he whispered, his lips fluttering against my skin. I got a pleasurable chill all up and down my spine, and I threw my head back, moaning with delight. He brought his fingers up to meet his mouth, and touched me, lightly at first, then with increasing pressure. I squirmed and whimpered in desire as I felt him licking around where his fingers were working. His tongue was wet, warm, and just heavenly.

I brought myself up on my elbows, groaning with pleasure as I looked down on him. He tilted his head up to look at me, and I choked for a minute when it looked like he had a mustache. However, I quickly realized it was the illusion of my own light dusting of curls down below in front of his mouth. I sighed in relief. I did not want to relive that nightmare!

Luke continued to work industriously at me, and under his eager touch, I soon came hard. I cried out my satisfaction loudly, making a flock of tropical birds scatter suddenly from their roost in a nearby tree. I laughed brokenly at that, then reached down and stroked Luke's face lovingly. He moved up, layering himself over me, and I cried out in surprise and pleasure as he was suddenly inside of me. He had apparently managed to get himself free from his pants without me noticing.

He rocked against me, closing his eyes and groaning deeply in pleasure. I hugged him close, and squeaked softly when he pressed his mouth to mine abruptly. I didn't have time to protest before he had already slipped his tongue into my mouth. I was normally a little prudish about that, but strangely, I found the taste of myself on his lips to be rather enticing. Just the fact that he loved me that much to do that to me, and so enthusiastically too. I sighed happily into his kiss, moving against him. Within a few minutes, he was climaxing powerfully inside of me. We held each other for a while, then pulled apart to set ourselves straight. We giggled as we picked grass and leaves out of each other's hair and off our clothes.

Later, Luke and I went hand in hand down to the dock, and boarded the ferry. I had my bucket of fish, and he had three bunches of bananas. We smiled at each other warmly, and I leaned my head against his shoulder contentedly as the boat rocked over the waves, heading for home.


	14. Broken

Chapter 14

The next morning, Luke headed off to work bright and early. He gave me a sweet goodbye kiss, then pulled back to look into my eyes. "Really, Angela, I mean it. You're the best thing that has ever happened to me."

I smiled coyly. "Is that you talking...or the banana pudding I made for you?"

He grinned. "It's me...but the banana pudding sure didn't hurt things." He stroked at my hair. "I love you."

"I love you too," I replied.

He pressed a quick kiss to my lips, then bounded out the door. I cleaned up the kitchen, then headed out to tend to my farm. I was tugging at a stubborn weed late in the morning when I heard the phone ringing from inside the house. I very rarely got phone calls, so I was extremely curious as to who was calling me. Maybe it was Luke telling me that he couldn't get away for lunch. I quickly wiped the dirt off my hands and stepped into the house, picking up the receiver. "Hello?"

An unexpected voice came in on the other end. "Angela?" an old woman's voice asked. I struggled to figure out who it was, but she told me. "This is Irene, from the clinic. You...You'd better come down here. There's been an accident, and...Luke's been hurt."

I managed to give some reply, and then I let the receiver slip out of my fingers back onto the phone stand. I stood, staring at the wall unblinkingly for several moments. I felt completely numb, but I somehow shook myself awake and made myself leave the house. I walked down the path, my limbs feeling heavy and dead. I tried to tell myself, maybe it's not that bad. Maybe he got bit by a raccoon, or tripped over some logs or something. As I got closer and closer to down, I picked up my pace, until I was running. I burst through the clinic door, my head whipping around frantically.

Irene appeared from behind the curtained area at the back, and motioned for me to follow. I didn't feel very cheered by the grim look on her face, but I reminded myself that the woman always looked grim. Shaking, I moved behind the curtain with her. I looked down at the bed there, and the whole world seemed to swallow in on me.

There was Luke, laying very still. His bandanna was gone, replaced with a thick swath of bandages. I glanced at the table by the bed, and there was his bandanna...soaked in blood. Everything got black around me, and I could feel myself swaying on my feet, then I was aware of nothing.

I came to later. Irene was dabbing my face with a cold cloth. I cracked my eyes open and looked around, hoping it had all been a bad dream. But I looked ahead of me, and there was Luke, still motionless. Dr. Jin came in and pulled up a stool to sit near me. "There was an accident at his work site. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but they were in an older part of the building, and a support beam collapsed. He was pinned for a while, and he's sustained some head trauma. Also, his shoulder was dislocated, so we've had to sedate him. We're not sure as to the extent of his injuries... we just have to wait and see."

I nodded and swallowed, my mouth feeling dry. I stood up cautiously and stepped forward, stroking lightly at Luke's arm. I stared down on him in wonder, still not truly believing that this could be happening. His face was covered in cuts and bruises. Luke looked so unnatural being that still - he even moved around when he was asleep. I turned around and pulled the chair I had been sitting in up closer to the bed, and laid my head down on it, looking at his still body. His chest rose and fell reassuringly...at least he was still breathing. I reached forward and toyed with the wedding band on his finger, running my fingertip over the flames carved into it.

I don't know how much time passed where I was staring at him like that, just watching him breathe. Eventually, I sat back up in the chair. This couldn't be happening. I had always felt like I could deal with anything in the world as long as I had Luke - but I hadn't considered that something could happen to him. What if he never woke up? I started to feel very scared and alone. I had been used to being alone, having lost my parents as a kid, but I had grown to be comfortable with the fact that I had someone now. But...Luke was it for me. I had no other family, no other real friends. I was friendly with everyone in town, but there was no one I could actually call my friend. I was all alone in this...I hugged my knees up to my chest, and started sobbing uncontrollably. My whole body shook with the force of my sobs, and I felt more small and helpless than I had ever felt in my life. All alone...

I felt someone's hand on my shoulder, and through tear blurred eyes I looked at it. The chubby, callused fingers and the battered wedding band there struck a chord in my memory, and I turned around slightly, looking up. Dale looked down on me, his eyes red rimmed and sad. He pulled up a chair close beside me, and we both stared in silence at Luke, the only family that either of us had left. I turned on him, then I moved forward and grabbed onto his shirt, and started crying into his chest. He put an arm around me, patting me comfortingly, but I could hear that he was crying too.

Hours passed, and eventually, Dale stood up to go. "You should go home and rest, you know. You'll collapse if you just sit here all night," he advised me kindly.

"I know," I said, "but...I just want to stay a little bit longer." Dale nodded and then left. I sat, unmoving, for another hour or so. Irene came into the room, and without a word, she set up a cot on the other side of Luke's hospital bed. She placed a pillow and blanket there, giving me a kind smile as she did so.

"Come in here and eat some dinner with us," she urged, but I refused. She urged me again, and finally I consented, eating mechanically, and returning to Luke as soon as I could. He had yet to make a single movement, but I wasn't going to give up hope. I settled into the cot, staring up at his bed. I tossed and turned for hours, pausing to look up at him, sometimes sitting up all the way so that I could see his face, but finally, I fell asleep, if only to sleep fitfully.

I woke up in the morning, feeling groggy and exhausted. I stood up and yawned, then stepped forward to Luke's bed. I couldn't help but smile when I saw something that was so characteristically Luke; his hospital gown was poking up in a very suspicious place. I somehow felt reassured by this silly little detail, like everything was going to be like it always was. I reached down, pulling up some of the heavier covers over his body to hide his arousal from any visitors. As I covered him up, my hand brushed against his length. I started to turn away, but I wheeled back around when I heard Luke groan. "Hey, don't stop touching it," he murmured, his eyes still closed.

I rushed over to him, taking him by the hand of his uninjured arm. "Luke? Are you awake?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm awake. Tell Pops to hold his horses, I'm gonna be on time to work," he mumbled, a little out of it.

My eyes shimmered with happy tears, and I bent down, covering his face in fluttery kisses. "Heh heh..." he chuckled, then he cracked open his eyes. My heart soared at seeing those beautiful golden eyes once again. He focused in on my face. "Whoa, what's wrong, honey? You're all crying and stuff." He slowly started to look around the room, taking in the situation. "What the fuck? Am I in heaven?"

I laughed. "No, Luke, you're in the hospital."

"Oh...it was a bear attack, wasn't it?"

I laughed again, brushing my tears away. "No, part of a building collapsed on you at work, and you got hurt kind of badly."

"Well...that's not as bad ass as getting attacked by a bear...but it'll do. Whoa, I still have my legs and stuff, right?" He looked panicked for a moment.

"Yes, you do. You just hit your head and were unconscious for about a day, and you dislocated your shoulder." I lightly touched his injured arm.

"Oh...my bandanna feels really tight," he lifted his uninjured arm to touch his head. "Huh?"

"It's a bandage," I explained. "Your bandanna kind of got ruined." I shuddered when I remembered seeing it soaked in blood.

"That's all right, I got more of those."

I just smiled down on him warmly, feeling extremely relieved and lucky. I suddenly realized that I should alert Jin and Irene that he was awake. After I called out for them, they quickly came into the room, assessing their patient. I stepped back so that they could do their work, and thought of something. I went into the lobby and picked up the phone there, dialing the carpenter's shop. A very tired sounding Dale answered, and I blurted out, "He's awake!" without any preamble or explanation. It wasn't needed, because Dale of course knew exactly what I meant.

He arrived at the clinic just a few minutes later, and we went into the back together. Luke was sitting up, looking just as cheerful as ever. "Hey, Pops! Now I know I'm not in heaven, because they wouldn't let a fat old grump like you in!" Dale responded to this cheery insult by laughing heartily, then breaking down into happy tears. I stepped over to him, patting him comfortingly on the arm as he rubbed his chubby knuckles into his eyes. I felt tears springing to my eyes once again, and I let them stream down my cheeks.

Luke laughed. "Aw, look at you two, all weepy over me. It'll take more than a house falling on me to stop me! It'd have to be like, three bears attacking me at the same time!" He tried to swing his arms wildly as he spoke, but winced and stopped. "Ow. I'm all broken."

I smiled widely at him, glad that he was back to his old self. Dale reached out and put his arm around me in a fatherly way, and I beamed up at him.

Luke piped up again. "See, Angela? I told you that you'd get over him seeing us doing it." I gasped, and stepped back from Dale sharply, my face burning with embarrassment.

"Gee, Luke, you always have a way of saying just the right thing," I teased. He just grinned.

Luke had to stay in the clinic for one more day, just for observation. They released him home with me the following day. His arm had to be immobilized for a few days, but other than that, he was fine. Once we got into the house, he scurried over to the bed, laying himself down on it awkwardly. He beckoned at me with his free hand. "Oh, hell yeah. I been waiting for this. I'm so horny, I think I'm gonna die."

I rolled my eyes, walking over to meet him. "Come on, take all your clothes off," he begged. "And...and then," he panted as he struggled to undress himself one handed. "Take my clothes off too." I just laughed, bringing my hands to the buttons of my blouse. I undressed myself, then leaned over him and worked on him. He had managed to unbutton and partially unzip his pants, and he had tugged his pants down on the side of his good arm. I pulled them the rest of the way off, along with his boxers, then hesitated over his shirt. I decided not to take it off, as I remembered what a pain it was to get it on over his injured arm this morning.

"Well, I guess there's only one way we can do it," I said as I clambered on top of him. I took hold of him with one hand, and slid myself down on him carefully. He groaned in pleasure, and I whimpered with desire as I moved further down. He tried to reach forward to grab at my hips, but winced with pain as his injured arm resisted the movement. He laid it back down and just grabbed me with his good arm.

"Now, kiss me," he pleaded, "A real kiss, not one of those wimpy ones like you had to give me because there were people around." I leaned down over him carefully, meeting our lips. I parted my lips, as did he, and we mingled our tongues together. We kissed more and more furiously, the emotions I had over the past few days flooding out in the form of passion. I lifted up from him and laid my hands on his stomach, which was exposed from his shirt being pulled up slightly. I began to grind into him, biting my lip and concentrating intently.

"Yeah...Angela..." he groaned brokenly. "Go...faster..." I complied, moving up and down on him as rapidly as I could. The bed squeaked loudly from the force of my movements. "Oh! Oh, that's it! Ahh!" he cried, and I felt him shudder hard underneath me. I pressed myself all the way against him, and rocked furiously until I was releasing as well. We stayed together, relishing the feeling afterwards. I finally climbed off of him, and lay next to him. He smiled at me, his face blissful, and I rejoiced that I had my Luke back safe and sound.


	15. Healing

Chapter 15

Luke fell asleep afterwards, and I just let him sleep, since Doctor Jin said that the painkillers and muscle relaxers would make him sleep more than usual. That, combined with the fact that Luke didn't have to go back to work until he was better, made me figure that he would be sleeping a lot in the coming days.

He slept all morning, and around lunchtime, I started making spinach casserole. The smell of it cooking woke him up, and he sat up. He stood up with a little difficulty, and started walking. He sat down at the table, looking around sleepily. I just smiled and brought him a plate of food, which he ate, still half out of it. After he was done eating, I looked at the clock. "Hmmm, it's time for you to take more medicine."

"I don't need it," he declared proudly. "I'm tough." I tried to convince him that it was for his own good, but he still refused.

About an hour later, when the dose he had received at the clinic had fully worn off, he was sheepishly asking for his pain medicine. I gave it to him, with no "I told you so," because I knew he had to be in a lot of pain from his shoulder. He took it, and then fell back asleep for most of the afternoon. That was the pattern for the rest of the day, with him only waking up to eat and to have sex. We made love two more times before the night was over.

The next day, he became restless of sleeping all day. He tried to watch TV, but we didn't really get anything but crummy little educational programs, so he quickly tired of that. "I'm borrrred..." he moaned. I had been outside tending to my crops, and had just reentered the house. His golden eyes sparkled at me. "Let's do it!"

I groaned. "Luke, we did it three times yesterday. And I have to do all the work - my thigh muscles are tired. Plus, I'm...sore. We need to give it a rest for a little while." He moped about it, then his eyes lit up.

"How about you just give me a blow job?"

I choked on my breath at this abrupt request. "Um, Luke...you haven't bathed in like, 3 days. I'm sorry, but no." I thought for a minute. "Speaking of that, how about we get you a bath?"

"Ooh, are you going to give me a sponge bath like in those porno movies about naughty nurses?" he asked, looking devilish.

"Wait, what?? No! You can take a regular bath! Those are like, for people with broken legs!"

He protested. "But, but...I can't get this arm wet, remember?" He continued to try to convince me as I went into the bathroom and filled the tub. I didn't even try to argue with him, just wordlessly started undressing him on the bed, pulling off his boxers and unbuttoning his shirt. "Aw, hell yeah! This is how the action always starts!" He thrust his hips up at me, and I laughed.

"Come on, you," I said, pulling him to his feet. I made him get in the tub. He sat there, making no motion to wash himself. "Come on, then, you have one arm that works. You can clean yourself with that," I urged him.

He bit his lip, his eyes twinkling. "But it would be more fun if you did it..."

I sighed heavily, but secretly, I tingled a little at the idea. "Well...okay..." I said, picking up the washcloth. Then I paused. "First, we need to wash your hair." He no longer had the wide gauze around his head, so I went and got a bowl from the kitchen, and then made him lean back so that I could pour warm water over his hair. Once his hair was wet, it lengthened, some of it going down as far as his mid back. I got a little bit of shampoo in my hands and lathered up his head. I giggled a little at how weird the whole thing was. I felt something rough on his scalp, and parted his sapphire locks there to see. There were stitches in his scalp! Doctor Jin hadn't said anything about those, so I figured it was okay to get them wet. Still, I tried to be careful around them.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing. I was just being careful around the stitches on your head."

"_Stitches on my head_?? That's so awesome! I hope I get big scars, and then I can tell people that's where a bear bit me on the head!" He hummed happily, and I just laughed.

"You don't really mean that. You don't want scars on your head. Besides, your hair, not to mention your bandanna, would cover them up anyway."

"Oh yeah." He fell silent for a while, as I rinsed the suds out of his hair. "Angela?"

"Yes, Luke?"

"Thanks for doing this for me," he said, and I looked at him in surprise. He was looking up at me with a very shy expression on his face. I felt charmed for a moment, then I glanced down in the water and saw that he was hard.

"Hmmm...this wouldn't be part of the plot of the naughty nurses movie, would it?" I accused playfully. He chuckled and blushed, and I just rolled my eyes. I picked up the washcloth and washed his face first. He sputtered and flinched at the soapy cloth in his face. Most of the cuts had healed and the bruises had faded, but he still had one bandage across the bridge of his nose. I tapped it lightly. "That looks cute on you," I said.

"Really? Well, I'll wear one there all the time, then."

I laughed, shaking my head. "You don't have to do _that_...it just looks cute for right now. When the cut is healed, you should take it off." I chuckled to myself as I moved on to washing his body, resoaping the washcloth and scrubbing his back. He really needed the washing, because as I had told him, it had been three days since he'd bathed, plus we had sex three times on top of that. And yes, I was aware that it was gross that I was having sex with a filthy man. But, he was irresistable!

"I'm still dirty right there," he said, pointing into his lap. He flashed his eyes up at me.

"Oh, are you? Well...nurse Angela will have to take care of that." I decided to play along with his game, reaching down and stroking him with the washcloth.

"Awesome..." he murmured under his breath. I leaned in and kissed him as I touched him. After just a few minutes, he was groaning deeply, obviously at the edge. "Angela...Angela..." he moaned, and then cried out sharply as he released. It spurted up and out of him, then landed back down in the water.

I smiled coyly at him. "Well, just more water that you've turned into Luke soup."

"Heh," he panted, looking proud of himself.

I withdrew my hand, and helped him get out of the tub. "Well, how about we go out and have lunch at the Sundae Inn?" I asked as I helped him dry himself off.

He looked at me, wrinkling up his nose. "I'd have to get dressed all the way, wouldn't I?" Ever since I had undressed him for sex about two minutes after he had returned home from the clinic, he had stayed in a shirt and boxers the whole time. I nodded at him, confirming that he had to be decent to go outside. "Well, I guess," he sighed, acting mock-resistant to the idea.

"Don't worry, I'll help you get dressed," I promised. His boxers were easy to get on, but his jeans were more difficult. I finally got them up all the way. "Whew," I panted. "Your jeans are so tight."

He looked panicked. "Does that mean I'm getting fat?"

I shook my head, smiling at him. "No...you are definitely not getting fat." I eyed his bare stomach, which was flat as ever. "You've always worn your jeans tight, Luke. Ever since I first met you."

His eyes glimmered as I picked up his shirt. "Well, well, that sounds like you were paying attention back then. Looking at my sexy body and stuff, huh?" I rolled my eyes, but nodded my head a little bashfully. "Heh...that's cool." He winced as I carefully worked his injured arm into the shirt. "Ow, you're breaking my sexy body. Don't do that!"

I just laughed. "I have to get your arm in there, Luke."

"I know..." he whimpered. Once it was on, I did up the buttons, and he sat down on the bed so that I could put his boots on.

"What...the hell?" I murmured to myself, trying to figure out how to do them. I finally realized that they were thigh high boots, and he always wore them done up to his knees, then folded over. I don't know why I had never noticed it before, but I guessed that of all the things on Luke's body, his boots were the least interesting to me. "Okay, there!" I proclaimed proudly after I had finished.

I started to help him up to his feet, but he shook his head at me. "You're forgetting something," he chimed. I just stared, but then he pointed at his head.

"Oh, right. Your bandanna. How could I forget?" I went to the top drawer of the dresser and looked down at the many bandannas there. "Okay, orange flames or blue flames?" I asked.

"Blue." I pulled out one with blue on it, and brought it over to him. I wasn't sure how to tie a bandanna, so I struggled with it for a few minutes. Luke tried to explain how to do it, but his perspective was from underneath, and I was trying to do it from above, which made it surprisingly confusing. I ended up getting it fixed in place, but it didn't look the same as always. "How do I look?" he asked.

"Good," I said, even though I was pretty sure that the bandanna was on wrong.

"Just good? Not...sexy?" His eyes twinkled at me, and he gave me a mischievous grin as he reached forward and stroked the back of his hand up my thigh. I bit my lip and rolled my eyes back in bed in pleasure, but I waggled my finger at him.

"Oh no, you don't. I am not taking all that off right after I put it on." He pouted a little, but nodded. I leaned forward and gave him a little kiss on the lips, then moved my lips to his ear. "When we get back though..." He nodded vigorously and grinned, and then I helped him to his feet.

We walked to Sundae Inn at a slower pace than we usually took when together, but I didn't want Luke to lose his balance. Once we got inside, Colleen and Yolanda flocked to him, clucking their tongues at his injured arm. They talked to him and worried over him, and I could tell that he was drinking up the attention. I just smiled quietly, unfolding my napkin in my lap.

We had ordered our food and were waiting for it to arrive when Gill strolled into the building. He caught sight of Luke and rolled his eyes, laughing heartily. "Oh, my, what happened here? Did you trip over yourself, Luke? Goddess, you are so dumb." Luke opened his mouth to respond, but I was quicker.

"He got hurt defending me from two wild bears. If you think this is bad, you should see the bears. Now, move along, move along." I shooed him away with my hand. Gill just stood in place, flapping his mouth wordlessly at me. I picked up the heavy glass salt shaker in front of me. "You know, I can throw more than just rocks..." I hinted, and he closed his mouth firmly, scooting to the other side of the inn and taking a seat there, his back turned towards us.

Luke turned to look at me slowly, impressed. "Wow, that was pretty bad ass, Angela!" He lowered his voice. "But I didn't fight any bears..."

I shrugged. "It's just Gill. Who cares what he thinks? It was fun to say." A wide smile spread across Luke's face.

"You are...so cool, Angela!" he exclaimed, leaning forward and wrapping his good arm around me for a hug. "You're cool, and you're funny, and you're sexy, and you're just the best!" I smiled and blushed, eating up the praise. He pulled back a little to look into my face. "You know, the reason why I never thought of you like in a girlfriend way was because I thought girlfriends had to be this big hassle. I didn't think a girl like you, that's all cool and stuff, and easy to be around, could also be a girlfriend. I thought that girlfriends had to be bitchy girls."

I stifled a laugh. "Well, I can more than understand the reason why!" I rolled my eyes when I thought about Selena and her haughty attitude. How in the world did the two of them get together in the first place? Wait, I didn't want to know that. All that mattered was that he was mine now.

Our food came, and Luke ate enthusiastically. After we were done, we started to walk back home. "Wait, let's go see Pops," Luke said, and I nodded. We continued up the path to Maple Lake, and then on to Ganache Mine District.

"Are you sure you're okay to walk this far?" I asked him, a little worried.

He grinned at me. "I'm cool. This is probably good for me, anyway." We approached the shop, where Bo was outside, sawing away at some boards.

"Luke!" he cried. "That arm sling thing looks awesome," he breathed. Luke smiled proudly, and then Dale stepped out of the shop. He looked happy to see his son, but then furrowed his thick eyebrows together.

"Boy...your bandanna is on all wrong."

Luke's good hand flew up to his head. "It is? Angela did it." I looked at the ground sheepishly. Busted. Dale just chuckled, stepping over and retying the bandanna on correctly. It was easy for him, because after all, he had probably tied in on Luke's head for years when he was a little kid.

"There you go," he boomed in his deep voice.

We visited for a while longer, until Luke admitted he was tired. We walked home slowly, where he immediately sprawled out on the bed and fell asleep. I smiled, then moved forward to undress him at least a little. I got his boots off, then worked on his jeans. I was tugging his body all over the bed, but he only stirred slightly. Once I had removed those, I laid down next to him and cuddled up, falling asleep.


	16. Slow

Chapter 16

Luke finally got his arm out of the immobilizing sling a few days later. After Dr. Jin removed it, Luke moved his arm around gingerly. Dr. Jin cleared his throat. "I'd still refrain from swinging your axe, at least for another week. But you should be able to do most things with your arm."

Luke asked a very pointed question. "Is it cool if I get on top during sex? Like, where I have to hold myself up with my arms?" My face burned hot, and I shrunk back in the chair, wanting to turn invisible. Luke glanced at me, and was apparently totally oblivious to my discomfort. "'Cause Angela's getting tired of having to be on top all the time."

I clapped a hand over my face. "Luke..." I moaned, totally mortified.

Dr. Jin cleared his throat once again. "Well, ah... that is... I suppose that would be fine. But if your shoulder starts to feel painful, you should cease...such activity immediately."

Luke grinned. "Cool." He turned to me, reaching for my hand. "Come on, honey, let's go home. I've got plans for you," he almost sang, and I slumped along after him, still feeling keenly ashamed. I mumbled out some words of thanks to Dr. Jin, who gave me a sympathetic look.

When we got home, I had half a mind to berate him for the things he had said at the clinic, but when he turned on me suddenly, his eyes glittering with intent, all that was forgotten. I moved forward boldly, kissing him, as I longed to feel his weight on top of me once again. But he pulled out of the kiss, panting a little, and told me, "I want to take this slow."

I looked at him with surprise. Never in our few weeks of coupling had he expressed such a desire. He was always hot and passionate, eager for release. Which was incredibly enjoyable for me, but at the same time, I had longed for him to take it slower; for us to savor each sensation.

I nodded up at him, and he reached out, stroking my hair with his hands. I also reached up, untying his bandanna and sliding it off. Then I ran my fingers through his hair, tugging and teasing at his locks. He mimicked my actions, and I shuddered at the feel of his slightly calloused fingertips tracing over my scalp and down the nape of my neck. He slowly brought his face towards mine, until our lips were hovering just apart. "You make me so happy," he murmured, his lips fluttering against mine. I just moaned happily, and then he layered his mouth over mine, kissing me gently.

We moved backwards in unison towards the bed, sitting down side by side. He began to kiss my neck, then worked his way up to one ear, where he breathed lightly, causing my skin to erupt in goosebumps. His tongue moved out of his mouth, snaking over the curve of my ear in a way that was strangely erotic. My hands kneaded lightly at the front of his shirt, and I moaned quietly. Meanwhile, his hands moved lightly over my shoulders, then he traced his fingertips ever so gently over my arms.

A few minutes of gentle kissing and touching followed, then I brought my hands to his shirt and worked leisurely at the buttons there. After I had undone them all, he reached forward and pulled my shirt up by the hem. I assisted him in getting it over my head, then he smiled softly as he smoothed down my hair, which had become mussed. He turned his attention back down to my body, tracing his fingertips over the seams of my bra. I looked down as well and watched his fingers moving slowly over me. He did it with a deliberately slow pace, almost like he was exploring me for the first time. The sensation caused my nipples to harden into firm peaks, which he squeezed at lightly with his thumb and forefinger through the soft cotton of my bra.

I tilted my head back, moaning softly with desire. His hands went around my back, and I moved into a tight embrace against him so that he could work at undoing my bra. He put his chin on my shoulder and looked down as he worked, finally getting the clasp free. He leaned back from me then, and gently pulled the garment off of my body. Then he dipped his head, kissing lightly at my neck as his hands returned to my chest, caressing me gently. I whimpered a little as he moved his lips lower, kissing along the line of my collarbone. I let my body drop down onto the bed, and I shivered a little when I glanced up at him and saw his lust filled, half lidded golden eyes. He moved his lips, saying something silently, and then he lowered his head, bringing his mouth to one nipple as he continued to softly palm my other breast with his hand.

I reached up, stroking at his head and sliding the bandanna off. I ran my fingers through his silky azure locks, trembling a little as he began to suckle at me gently. He continued to tease me with his mouth, pausing to change sides. He brought his fingers up to my still wet nipple and tweaked it lightly. "L-Luke..." I moaned brokenly. I moved my hands down to his back and raked my fingernails gingerly down his back.

After a few minutes, his head continued its path down my body. He kissed all over my stomach, making me giggle with ticklishness at times, then he came to my navel and traced his tongue around it. I had begun to breathe heavily, and I could feel the evidence of my own desire beginning to seep out of me. Luke's fingers fumbled a little at my waistband as he undid the button and pulled the zipper down. He parted the front of my pants to the side, and resumed snaking his tongue downwards. Eager for more, I grasped at my pants and pushed them down a little further, about midway down my thighs.

Luke brought his lips to the outside of my panties and kissed there ever so softly, eliciting a heated squeal from me. I clapped my hand over my mouth, blushing a little. Luke just smirked up at me, then kept his eyes locked on me as he began to lick at me through the fabric. I writhed underneath him, driven mad with desire. His strong hands came down on the tops of my bared thighs, holding me firmly as he teased me. Finally, I relaxed, and then he brought his hands to my panties, peeling them off of me slowly. I wriggled a little to help him pull them and my pants all of the way down my legs and off entirely. He used his hands to part my thighs further, then his face returned to my wetness, his tongue probing me gently. I could feel my whole body flushing with pleasure as he worked at me. His tongue was warm, wet, and just heavenly.

I pulled myself up a little bit on my elbows to look down at him better. "Does it...does it taste okay?" I asked, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

Luke brought his fingers up to me, touching me lightly as he moved his mouth away to speak momentarily. "It tastes wonderful," he replied smoothly, and I fell back on the bed, overcome with pleasure. I could feel my body melting into the sheets, and I closed my eyes, enraptured. Luke eased one finger inside of me, probing delicately, and when he felt how wet I was inside, he groaned a little and slipped a second finger in as well. I squirmed underneath him as he drew his fingers in and out of me while he continued to lap at me.

"Luke!" I cried. "I want you...please...please!" I begged as he worked in a faster rhythm. I longed to feel him buried deep inside of me; needed to feel his weight pressing me into the bed. He drew his face away from my wetness a little reluctantly, but as he knelt above me on the bed, unbuttoning his jeans, I could tell by the lusty look in his eyes that he wanted the same thing. He stood up to push his jeans and boxers down his narrow hips, and I shuddered a little in delight when I saw his very rigid manhood appear. I repositioned myself lengthwise on the bed, and he moved over me, holding himself up with his arms.

"Is this okay? Does your arm hurt?" I asked, worrying about his shoulder.

"I'm fine," he murmured, leaning down to kiss at my neck. I spread my thighs, and he nestled his body in between. I felt the tip of his hardness bump against me gently, and I wriggled my hips a little, getting closer to him. I reached down and guided him inside of me, and as he plunged deeper and deeper, the feeling was absolutely exquisite. We both cried out loudly in ecstasy at the powerful surge of sensation, like water quenching a flame.

I looked up into his eyes. "Luke," I breathed.

He looked back down on me, his face full of emotion. "Angela," he whispered, and then began to rock against me. I wrapped my legs around his hips as he moved deliberately slowly inside of me. I could feel every movement he made, and it was wonderful. While I also enjoyed his usual frenzied style of love making, this new experience was incredible.

"Angela..." he moaned. "Being inside of you is pure heaven." I shuddered with pleasure at his words. He drew his length out almost entirely, just to thrust it all the way back in, to the hilt. I cried out happily underneath him, and he leaned down, kissing me. His tongue slipped into my mouth, and I sucked on it lightly, raking my teeth over it gently. We kissed back and forth as we made love leisurely, yet passionately.

Our desire for each other still burned strongly, and it wasn't long before we were both at the threshold. "Luke...lay on me..." I whispered, and he complied, bending down onto his forearms and allowing me to bear most of his weight. Although it wasn't something I could take for a very long time, it felt incredibly sensual to have him pressing down on me like that. Our chests were pressed together tightly, and he groaned as he buried himself as deeply as he could. I gave a loud cry as it pushed me over the edge, and I bucked my hips up furiously at him, relishing my powerful climax. I felt his body twitching and convulsing against me, and then he moaned loudly as he released. He lay even more heavily on me in the wake of his orgasm, and I felt relief as he finally rolled off, because it had become difficult to breathe, despite how nice it felt.

We lay side by side for a moment, panting; as the world reeled around us in a haze of ecstasy. Then we rolled towards each other, snuggling close. He pressed his face up close to mine. "I love you more than anything in the world," he whispered, his golden eyes gazing at me in pure adoration.

"I love you too, Luke. So much." We kissed sweetly, and then I tilted my head forward, pressing it against his chest. We fell asleep like that, even though it was the middle of the day. We both slept deeply, not waking until the sun had begun to set outside. I roused first, sitting up slightly, and he yawned next to me.

I looked over at him, smiling at his half closed eyes and tousled hair. "Are you hungry?" I asked him. He nodded, and I climbed out of the bed, getting dressed. "What do you feel like eating?" I queried, then as he opened his mouth, his eyes twinkling, I bit my lip and rolled my eyes. "Oh, don't tell me. Let me guess." I didn't even bother saying it out loud, but still, he must have seen the knowing look in my eyes, and he nodded, affirming my unspoken guess.

"You're really loving fall, aren't you? Spinach season," I commented as I washed a bowl full of fresh leaves in the sink.

Luke smiled at me as he pulled his jeans on. "Yeah. It's good canned, but fresh is way better." He walked over to me in the kitchen, and kissed me on the cheek. He was still shirtless, and I felt the hot skin of his bare chest press against my arm as he leaned into me. "I really appreciate you growing so much spinach in the field," he whispered in my ear, and I got a shiver all down my body. He walked over to the kitchen table and retrieved his necklace, slipping it on. I bit my lip, concealing a smile. I found it incredibly sexy when he wore that necklace without a shirt. Just the sight of it on his bare skin was enticing.

"Man, it's so good being able to use both my arms again!" he exclaimed, stretching them out. "Though I did like having you waiting on me all of the time," he admitted a little sheepishly.

"Hmmm." I commented. "I could tell you were enjoying all that a little too much." I shot him a sly smile, thinking about his requests for me to be his naughty nurse.

"That's all over now, huh?" he said, a little dejected.

I shrugged. "I don't know...maybe Nurse Angela can make some house calls to check on her former patient some time..."

His eyes lit up with delight. "Bad ass!" he breathed, and I just smiled, turning my attention back to the sauteing spinach in front of me.


	17. Art

Chapter 17

Two days later, I woke up in the morning with familiar, yet unwelcome sensations in my lower body. I got out of bed, glancing over at Luke, who was still asleep. I went into the bathroom, pulling down my panties for confirmation; and sure enough, my period had started. I sighed heavily, peeling off the crimson stained garment and tossing it and my other clothes aside, turning on the shower. Luke and I had been together less than a month, so I hadn't had my period while with him yet. I worried about how he would react to it as I waited for the water to warm up.

There was suddenly a loud boom as the door flew open, and Luke burst into the bathroom. I cringed as he quickly embraced me from behind. "Look at you, all naked and sexy," he said, nuzzling his face into my neck. His hands reached around and squeezed my breasts, and I tried to protest.

"Wait, Luke, I - " Before I could say more, one of his hands had slid between my thighs and was touching there insistently. "No! Don't!" I squealed, mortified.

Luke pulled away obediently, but looked puzzled as I turned to face him. "Why not? You were so wet..." As he spoke, he glanced down at his fingers, and I could see the surge of horror on his face when he saw blood there. "What the fuck?"

Tears of embarrassment sprung to my eyes. "I told you not to touch!" I wailed.

To my great surprise, Luke looked up at me, close to tears himself. "Why are you bleeding? Did I hurt you?"

This was not at all what I expected, so I just stared at him in disbelief. "I...I started my period." Luke just continued to look anguished, and it immediately struck me that he had no idea what I was talking about.

"Huh?" he said, looking bewildered.

I was initially in disbelief that a grown man could have no idea that girls had periods, but then I had to remind myself that his mother had died when he was very young, and he had lived around nothing but males. His father had obviously told him about where babies come from, but I supposed that the other details seemed superfluous, in the face of Luke not having to be around women. And I was sure that Selena, being the way she was, just avoided him one week out of the month, and he chalked it up to her temperament.

So, as strange as it seemed, there I was, standing naked in my bathroom, explaining menstruation to my husband. He just listened with wide eyes, like a little kid. I had an additional detail to tell him, one that I wondered why he had never noticed. "But my period is only about three days long, because I take the birth control pill. The foster home I stayed at before I came here strongly encouraged us to take them, because the last thing they wanted was more kids to take care of. I wasn't sexually active, but one good side effect is that it makes my periods only about three days instead of seven like they used to be. They gave me like, more than a year's supply when I left, so I've still been taking them. Which is a good thing, because of how much sex we have. Didn't you ever wonder why I wasn't worried about getting pregnant?"

Luke shook his head sheepishly. "No, I just didn't think about it." He bit his lip. "So this means..."

I nodded my head sadly. "Yeah, just until it's over. It should only be three or four days."

He looked devastated. "Three or four days of no sex?" he wailed. "I'll die!" He paused for a minute, in thought. "Okay, wait. We can't do it because it hurts if you're on your period, or just because you think it's gross?"

I blushed. "Well, I don't know if it hurts or not, but I don't think it would...I think most girls don't do it on their periods because of the mess."

His eyes lit up. "Well, I don't give a damn about that! I just want you! I don't care if it's messy." His attention was suddenly drawn to the shower, which had been running all this time. "Come on, we can do it in the shower!"

"But, Luke, I..." I vainly tried to protested as he herded me towards the shower. His hands were all over me under the warm water, and I couldn't help but relax in response to his caresses. "Luke, are you sure?" I managed to whisper. "This isn't going to gross you out?"

He kissed my neck. "I just won't look down," he murmured, and I shivered as his hand slipped between my thighs and rubbed at me. Before I knew what was going on, he had me backed up against the shower wall, one leg around his waist, as he pressed himself inside of me. "Oh, fuck," he groaned. "You're all hot inside...damn, it feels so good." I blushed, but closed my eyes and enjoyed his movements against me.

After a few minutes, he began bucking a little more erratically into me. "Shit...I'm gonna come...come with me, Angela...please," he groaned. I needed no prompting, as I was pretty close myself. I wiggled my hips furiously against him, then let loose a sharp cry as I climaxed. He cried out even louder as he released inside of me. Then he slowly slid out of me, as I unwrapped my thigh from around him. We washed ourselves off without looking down, and I smiled at him, blissful.

"See, that was pretty awesome, wasn't it?" Luke asked, and I just nodded. I discovered that my cramps had faded away after I climaxed, and I realized that I had found a natural solution to part of my monthly curse.

That day was the Arts Festival, so once we were dried off and dressed, we headed down to check it out together. Luke immediately gravitated towards a stall that Bo had set up. "No fair! Why is Pops letting you have a booth but he wouldn't let me have one?"

Bo just shrugged. "I dunno. I guess it's because I do more work with small furniture than you do." I had to admit that Bo had a point there. Since he wasn't as physically strong as Dale and Luke, he tended to work on smaller projects, as well as being a sort of go-fer for the two of them while they worked on construction projects. Luke frowned, but his envy faded away as he examined some of the things that Bo had made. The booth was full of chairs and stools of all different styles; and in addition to them being expertly constructed, they were also rather exquisitely painted.

Luke chuckled. "Yeah, you know, I can build a bed frame in like an hour, but I could never paint stuff like this. It's almost like a girl did it!" he chirped, and Bo's face reddened.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he fumed.

Luke held his hands up in a gesture of peace, backing away slightly. "Whoa, chill out, dude. I didn't mean that in a bad way. It was supposed to be a compliment." He reached up and smoothed at his bandanna, laughing nervously. Bo finally calmed down, and I ended up purchasing a lovely little stool, if only to appease him a bit.

We browsed around the square a little more, stopping in at Owen's booth and talking to him. Owen and Luke were pretty good friends, and Luke expressed surprise that Owen was now building furniture in addition to his blacksmithing. "We better watch out. You're gonna take away some of our business!" he chided good naturedly.

Owen laughed, then spoke in his smooth brogue. "Ah, don't you worry about that. Most of what I make is mechanical type furniture, like these refrigerators and these fold out couches. That's the kind of furniture construction I'm interested in: stuff with a metal based foundation. So, I won't be building beds or dressers any time soon!"

We moved along, looking at Mira's booth. It was full of lovely jewelry. I looked at it only half heartedly, as I had never really been into jewelry - the only piece I cared about was the simple gold band around my finger. We turned around when I was finished looking and nearly barreled right into Dr. Jin. He smiled kindly at us. "Hello, you two. How is your arm feeling, Luke?"

Luke moved it around a bit to show that it was still functioning properly. "It's cool. Oh yeah!" I cringed as I anticipated what he was about to say next. "It didn't hurt at all when I got on top of her the other day!" he said loudly, causing a few nearby people to look. My face burned, but I plastered on a grim smile. My shame deepened when I saw that two of the people who heard were the mayor, who looked perplexed, and Gill, who had already started howling with laughter.

"Luke is _such _a retard," he said through his giggles. "Angela - I told you so!" I shot him a malevolent glare, and he immediately shut his trap, for fear that I would throw something at him, I'm sure. Luke just looked at me innocently, then looked at Gill.

"Hey, silly Gilly! What's up?" he said, oblivious to everything. Gill just snorted and stalked away. Luke looked after him, puzzled. "What's wrong with him?" I just shook my head, sighing and shrugging. "Silly Gilly needs a girlfriend to make him happy," he commented, taking my hand.

"Yeah, maybe that's his problem," I murmured.

Luke suddenly wrapped me up in his arms, kissing me, and then he picked me up and twirled me around. I squealed as I flew through the air, then he set me back on my feet. He pulled me close once again. He stroked my hair while gazing into my eyes. "I could never be all pissy like Gill, because you make me so happy that I can't stop smiling." I smiled up at him, and gave a little shiver of joy.

We were staring back and forth at each other, so enraptured that we were oblivious to the world around us. Suddenly, I was snapped out of my blissful daze by the sound of someone going "Hmph!" angrily. I turned, but all I saw was a red ponytail disappearing around the corner of a stall. I looked around, and when I spotted Samson and Sue smiling at us a little apprehensively, I deduced that it had been Selena. I smiled at the older couple as we approached them to exchange greetings, but my eyes darted around nervously, afraid that Selena might pop up from any direction.

"We came to check out the arts festival," Sue explained. She hung her head a little. "Yes, all of us came. Selena's home from the dance troupe for a few days." She could tell I was nervous, and patted me on the arm. "Don't worry, dear. I told her to just leave you two alone."

I sighed with relief. "Good. I don't feel like getting slapped again."

I didn't realize what I had said would have such an effect on them, but Selena's parents had an immediate reaction to it. "Selena...slapped you?" Sue asked in a hushed whisper.

I squirmed. "Well, yeah."

Luke growled a little next to me. "And she cut your cheek with one of her rings too. I was so pissed, I couldn't see straight!"

Sue inhaled deeply through her nose. "I can imagine how you felt, because that's how I feel right now!" For a split second, I was worried that she was mad at me, but she glanced up at Samson and spoke. "I am going to give our girl a piece of my mind! I did not raise her like that!" She stormed off in the direction that Selena had gone, with Samson close on her heels. Luke followed them, pulling me along behind him.

"W-wait, Luke! I don't want to go!" I protested, dragging my heels as I tried to slow him down. He stopped, but we were still close enough to see Sue berating Selena.

"I can't believe that you would disrespect me and your father by behaving like that! Hitting another person!" Her angry shouts had drawn the attention of everyone in town, and people had gathered around that section of the square to see what was going on. "I want you to apologize this instant to Angela for slapping her!" I heard a shocked murmur go through the crowd. No one had known about what happened, and it was going to be a nine days scandal now, I just knew it.

Selena folded her arms over her chest and turned away slightly. "Hmph. I am not apologizing to anyone." She then uncrossed her arms and balled up her fists. "Especially not that ugly little bitch! She stole my boyfriend!" she spat venomously, finally looking at me. I shivered at the hate in her eyes.

Sue gasped, as did the rest of the crowd. "Selena! You watch your mouth this instant!"

Selena just seethed. "I'll say whatever I want!"

Samson groaned. "Ay, mama, it was such a mistake to bring Selena here. She obviously has a lot of growing up to do." He shook his head sadly at the disgraceful behavior of his daughter.

Selena tossed her ponytail defiantly. "I am grown up, thank you very much. Unlike some ugly little child brides around here!"

I shook a little with indignation, but said nothing. Luke surprised me by speaking up. His voice was calm. "Stop, Selena. I am so tired of you. I've been tired of you for a long time. I _was _your boyfriend, but that was a long time ago, and I'll never be your boyfriend again. I love Angela, and she makes me happy. You couldn't make me happy, because you're not happy yourself. Please, please, just give this up. You're only making yourself look totally stupid. Nothing you say or do is going to stop me from being with Angela." He shook his head, then squeezed my hand tighter.

The crowd murmured in reaction to his little speech, and I happened to see Gill's face. He looked a little startled at the eloquence Luke had suddenly displayed. Selena sniffed haughtily, and rolled her eyes. "Ugh. I don't know what I ever saw in you, anyway."

Luke shook his head. "I don't know, either. So, see? You don't really want me. You're acting like a little child who threw away a toy she didn't want, and is now pitching a fit because another kid is playing with it. It's sad." Selena gave a long sigh, then turned with her parents and left the square.

I was still shivering a little at encountering her again, and Luke released my hand, putting his arm around me. "It's okay, honey. It's over."

"Is it?" I asked him, looking worried.

He nodded. "I think so. She looked like she finally got what I was saying. And hopefully, Sue is going to watch and make sure she doesn't come here any more. She was pretty pissed at her!"

I giggled in spite of myself, imagining Sue dragging Selena around by her long ponytail, then beating her behind with a tiki torch. I nuzzled up to him. Bo ran up suddenly. "Wow, Luke! That was pretty bad ass!"

"Was it? I don't know, I was just talking and stuff."

Bo nodded furiously. "You were all like, being Angela's knight in shining armor!"

Luke began laughing. "Ohoho! Now I know whose romance novels those were all over the shop! You tried to tell me Pops was secretly into that stuff, but it's you, you silly boy!" Bo's face reddened like it had earlier.

"I-I-I do not read romance novels! Those are just for girls!"

Luke laughed some more. "Apparently not! 'Made for girls, but Bo likes them too!'" he sang, and Bo tried to kick him in the leg. "Hey, watch it, boy!" Luke gasped, dodging him. "I need that leg to do knight in shining armor stuff!" The thought made him laugh harder, Bo squawked angrily, and I just giggled at the two of them.


	18. Cold

Chapter 18

A few weeks later, winter fell on the island. I was surprised at how cold it got, considering that it was a small island, after all. I really hadn't expected it to snow, but on the very first day of winter, the temperature dropped drastically and snow blanketed my field in a thin layer.

Even though it was a Sunday, there were no construction projects in the works for Luke, so his dad gave him the day off of work. He chopped wood behind the house while I tended to my animals, and then we went back in the house to warm up with some hot tea.

Luke couldn't stop shivering, and I clucked my tongue sympathetically. "It's because you're wearing short sleeves," I admonished. "You can't wear the same kind of shirts that you wore in fall. You've got to put on a jacket, honey."

He chattered his teeth and looked up at me as I poured more tea in his cup. "It's not just because of my arms. My junk is all cold too."

My face trembled, and I pursed my lips together to keep from laughing. "Your what?"

He pointed into his lap, totally straight faced. "My junk. It's cold."

I rolled my tongue around in my mouth, then cleared my throat. "Well...maybe that's because you wear boxers. If you wore briefs, it would keep your...ahem...'junk' closer in to your body, and keep it warm."

He furrowed his brow. "Briefs? You mean like dork pants? No! Only people like Gill wear those!"

I laughed. "Wait, how do you know what kind of underwear Gill wears?"

"Because. Gill used to always make fun of me when we were kids, calling me retard and stuff, and Owen always stood up for me. He gave Gill more than a few wedgies, and we all got a laugh out of his little white underwear."

"Well, I don't think anyone will be giving you a wedgie and exposing your underwear to the town, so only I will know you're wearing them."

He looked doubtful. "But I'll look like a dork. And then you won't think I'm sexy anymore."

I laughed. "Oh, silly. I'll always think you're sexy. Dork pants or not. What would _not _be sexy is if your 'junk' got frostbite and fell off."

Luke shrieked. "Fell off?" he asked in a terrified, high pitched voice. "That can happen?" He stood up suddenly, almost upsetting his teacup in the process. "We have to go out NOW, and buy some dork pants!" He was halfway out the door as I scrambled to catch up with him. "I cannot have my junk falling off!" he declared loudly, as he stomped with purpose through the snow, towards town.

"I was just teasing," I told him as I hurried after him, but he was hellbent on getting some new underwear. I shrugged, figuring I shouldn't argue, because it was the result I was looking for, despite that I had to scare him to get him to agree.

We ended up in the new clothing store that had opened not but a few days earlier. The petite pink haired salesgirl, Luna, greeted us. I glanced to the back of the shop, where Gill was being measured by Candace, the seamstress.

"I need to buy some dork pants," Luke declared. "Like that guy wears." He pointed back at Gill.

"Shut up, retard," came the indignant reply. Luna looked a little puzzled.

"You mean, like the white overalls he's wearing right now?"

Luke shook his head. "No, like his dorky underwear. I don't want to get frostbite on my junk and have it fall off! No!" He yelped a little, just thinking about it.

Meanwhile, all three of us women, and Gill, were staring at Luke with our mouths open. "Luke," I whispered. "You don't have to tell everyone WHY you want to buy briefs."

He looked at me, puzzled. "But why not? Oh," he suddenly realized something. "It's not cool for me to talk about my junk in front of other women, is it?" I shook my head slowly. "Sorry," he grinned at me, and I rolled my eyes, smiling. "Okay, so anyway..." he turned back to Luna, who had shaken off her initial shock and had retrieved some packages of underwear.

"You look like a medium," she said simply, handing the packages over. The briefs inside were blue, Luke's favorite color.

"Yeah, that's right! And this is my favorite color," Luke said. "You're good at your job."

"Well..." Luna trailed off. I shot her a glance, and we bit our lips to keep from laughing. It wasn't exactly hard to guess what his favorite color was, since he had blue all over him. We also picked out some scarves, hats, and mittens for the cold weather. Luna rang us up, and then bagged up the purchases. "Have a nice day!" she chimed cheerfully.

"Yeah, and don't let your 'junk' freeze off," Gill snorted.

"I won't! Bye!" Luke proclaimed cheerfully.

Gill rolled his eyes in response, and muttered, "Retard." I just took Luke's hand, and headed out of the shop.

We went home, and Luke immediately wanted to change into his new underwear. As soon as we got in the door, he was already pulling his boots, pants and boxers off. He stood in front of me, just wearing his shirt, and jutted his hips towards me. "See? It's all cold. Touch it." I groaned, laughing a little, but I complied, stepping forward and cupping his self-proclaimed "junk" in my hands. "Yeow! Your hands are even colder!" he yelped, backing away hurriedly.

"Oh? I thought you wanted me to touch it," I insisted, advancing on him playfully and touching him again with my cold fingers.

"No! Ah!" he cried, falling back onto the bed. "You're going to freeze it and break it!" He squirmed to try to get away from me. Before he could stop me, I dropped down and took him into my mouth. He gave a relieved sigh. "Ah, t-that's better. Your mouth is so warm." He reached down and petted my head lovingly.

He quickly hardened up in my mouth, and I worked enthusiastically. At one point, I tried to supplement what I was doing by stroking him with my hand, but I guessed that my fingers were still too cold, because he gave a short yelp, and I quickly backed off. "Sorry," I mumbled, my mouth full. He just sighed and melted back into the bed.

"I'm going to come soon," he warned me, though I could already tell that by the erratic way he was breathing. "Wait," he cried. "I wanna do it. Do you wanna do it?"

I smiled, taking my mouth off of him and rising up. "Yeah," I replied, already easing my pants off.

"Badass," he breathed, as I moved forward, straddling him. "Oh, hell yeah," he groaned, as I guided him inside of me. I ground against him for a few moments, until he grasped me firmly by the hips. "Stop," he gasped. "I'm too close." We paused in our movements for a minute, until he swallowed hard and began thrusting lightly up into me again.

"Honey?" his voice suddenly took on a pleading tone, and I looked down on him questioningly. "Would you..." he hesitated. My heart froze for a minute, afraid he might ask for something weird. "Would you...talk dirty to me?"

I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, that that was all it was, but then my face quickly reddened, as I became unsure of what to do. "Like...what? Bad words?"

He panted, thrusting up into me. "I don't even know. I just like the idea of it. It sounds...hot."

I smiled, as seductively as I could manage. "Hmmm...well..." I thought for a minute, as we moved together. I leaned in closer to him, breathing heavily. "Mmmm...Luke, you're so big..." I panted in his ear.

His eyes widened, and he thrust into me a little erratically. "Whoa!" He took a deep breath, rolling his eyes back in his head. "Whoa, you almost made me come right there."

I smiled more, getting into it now. "Oooh, are you going to come inside of me?" I asked in a sexy voice, and he groaned, sounding almost pitiful in his desire. "I want you to, Luke. I want you to _fuck_ me and then..."

But my further voyages into the world of dirty talk were cut short. "Ahhh! Oh my Goddess!" Luke screamed, thrusting up into me wildly. "I'm coming!" he groaned. I increased the speed of my motions against him until I was climaxing too. We stayed together for a moment, then I carefully dismounted him and snuggled up beside him.

He breathed heavily, obviously overcome with ecstasy. "That was...that was..." he was unable to finish his thoughts, finally just closing his eyes and letting out a long exhale.

"You're so cute," I said, smiling as I brushed a bit of hair out of his face. He just turned on his side, smiling with his eyes closed, and promptly fell asleep. I couldn't tuck him under the covers because he was laying on top of them, so I went ahead and got out one of the quilts we had gotten as a wedding present, and spread it out over him. I let him sleep while I made lunch.

When lunch was ready, I stood over him, stroking his face lovingly. He groggily opened his eyes. "Hey, sleepyhead," I said.

He yawned and stretched, then gave a sheepish little smile. "Hey, honey, did you really mean what you said?"

"Hmmm?"

"You know, when you said I was...big."

I smiled and nodded. "Yes, Luke, I meant it."

"Okay, then will you like, help me measure it?"

"What?"

"I've got a measuring tape in my carpenter's bag. Right there!" He pointed to the side table. I rolled my eyes, but retrieved it. He pulled the covers back on himself, exposing his already recovered hardness.

"Now, why am I not surprised that you're already hard again?" I murmured, and he just gave a big grin, gesturing for me to measure it. "Come on! Haven't you ever done this yourself?" I protested.

He actually blushed a little. "Well, yeah, but maybe I wasn't measuring it right." He looked up at me with those golden puppy dog eyes that I could never resist. I knew it really was that he wanted _me _to do it.

"All right," I relented, and stretched the measuring tape out. I leaned forward and measured his length. "Seven and a half inches," I declared, letting the measuring tape respool with a sharp snap.

"Awesome!" he cheered. "Wait, that's good, right?"

"Yes, Luke, it's very good. And big. Now come on, your lunch is getting cold."

He jumped up, heading for the table. "Uh uh uh!" I admonished, as I might do to a misbehaving pet. He was still naked from the waist down, and he looked at me with big innocent eyes like he had no idea what I was reprimanding him for, as he sat down in the chair. "Luke! Put some clothes on!"

He grinned. "I have clothes on." He tugged at his shirt for emphasis.

I stomped my foot playfully. "You know what I mean." He flashed another cheeky grin, then got up to redress.

He opened up the package and put on a new pair of briefs. "Ugh! They _are _dorky looking!" he protested, looking down on himself.

"They look fine," I assured him. "Now, put your pants on and come eat lunch." He did so reluctantly.

"Are you sure you'll still think I'm sexy wearing these things?"

"Yes, Luke," I reassured him.

"Okay," he said, but still sounded a little doubtful.

While we were out later that day, he embraced me playfully from behind, nuzzling into my neck. I felt him press his body into mine, and then he gave a strange cry, pulling away. I turned around in confusion, and then gaped when I saw that he was fiddling with himself through his pants.

"Luke!" I admonished.

"But, but! It's all twisted up weird in these dork pants!" He mercifully lowered his voice a bit. "I started getting hard, and it's kind of at a weird...angle." I rolled my eyes, then stood in front of him to block any possible eyes, even though I didn't see anyone looking towards us. He struggled a little for a moment, then sighed in relief. "Ah, that's better. You know, maybe I'm too big for dork pants." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively at me.

"Luke..." I groaned, but I couldn't help eventually breaking out into a grin when he did. His smile was contagious.


	19. End

**Author's Note: Okay, I don't know why I didn't do this before, but I've disabled anonymous reviews. I allowed them before because I wanted people who didn't have a ffnet account to make reviews. But all it's turned into lately is people harassing me about "finishing" these older stories. Now, I don't mind people saying they want me to finish old stories. In fact, sometimes, the right amount of wistful longing and praise of an old story can get me to start thinking about that story, and revive it from the dead. But calling me lazy, saying you're pissed, or insulting the current stories I'm working on is NOT the right way to go about it. Let me remind you that I write these stories for fun. Almost all my stories (besides the Junjou ones) are game stories, and I usually get the fever to write them while I'm playing the game. However, when I finish the game, there goes my inspiration for the story. Often too abruptly for me to round out the story. I could just mark the story completed and be done with it, but I leave them open because just maybe I'll start playing the game again and feel inspired to make a new chapter, or a PLEASANT review might spark a new idea for me. (Not once have I ever written a new chapter for a story because someone tried to bully or insult me into doing it.) And I don't think that leaving my stories open-ended is this horrible crime. I don't write angsty drama or thrillers, so it's not like I leave things on a cliffhanger. You're not waiting to see if a character really died or not, or if the star crossed lovers will be reunited. No, I leave them off in happy domestic bliss. If there's a new chapter, it would be another glimpse into that happy bliss. I know it's easy to get hooked on a story, and I know that disappointment when you reach the last chapter and there's no more. But I am not a writing machine, I'm a person with a life. You're not paying to read these and I'm not getting paid. **

**So I'm disabling anonymous reviews, and I'm giving a pat ending for each of my open stories, so that you handful of anonymous reviewers can sleep at night, knowing adventures are over for your favorite couple! **

The next week, Luke threw a birthday party for Angela. Everyone on Waffle Island came, and Angela had a wonderful time turning nineteen. Luke and Angela lived happily ever after.

THE END.


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